ISLANDS

The most underrated disc of KC. Formentera is a good song, with precise development. A sailor's Tale is a cool song (the ending with the a super-fast strummed guitar is one of my favorites moment of Fripp, like the intro of The Night Watch of SaBB). The Letters use a lot of dynamics, Ladies of the Road is ok. Song of the Gulls is a little overrated... And the final "Islands" is the one most beautiful songs of King Crimson: the melody is incredible and the way the music progress.... always this songs give me schillings on my spine. Take a look at this disc. Listen carefully and you won't be disappointed.

One of the lost albums among their growing works, Islands is a somewhat uneven set of pieces, largely forgettable among the body of their work as a whole. Ladies of the Road is probably the most inspired and memorable piece, featuring some bluesy guitar and horn work, and prevents the collection from being more of sleeping aid then anything else. Near the bottom of their great body of work.

the promised desert Island??

Island is a bit of a special album in the first chapter of the Crimson story, as it is only the second album that received any promotion by a touring band, as both Poseidon and Lizard simply had no touring line-up. With the previously-unknown Burrell singer, then later also bassist, and drummer Wallace (also contributing to vocals) as newcomers, only the immovable Fripp and reed player Mel Collins along with Sinfield remained from Lizard. The album came with another impressive (did someone say stellar??) gatefold artwork, the album sold less than previous, but profited from extensive touring and a lot posthumous live will be of this line-up and the repertoire was mainly song that appeared on this album.

Starting on the cool descending Formatera Lady, with a bunch of good songs but never leaving a real lasting impression, Island is a low-key album that glides along smoothly, if you'll except for the now-aged effect-laden guitar solo in Letters, which sticks out sorely a bit on the opening side. On the flipside, only Song For A Seagull is a notably different, built and played as a classic piece, and this song will impress Spanish cineaste Bigas Luna to use it all throughout his film Son De Mar (I from the sea), an excellent and sexy movie.

Much more accessible than Lizard, Islands is the last "Mk 1" studio album, Crimson toured some 18 months almost constantly, before breaking up, and Fripp signifying goodbye to lyricist/lightman/illustrator Peter Sinfield and keeping the Crimson moniker to continue his musical forays.

Grotesquely underrated masterpiece from KING CRIMSON which in my opinion takes the best elements from their previous 2 albums mixing the lyrical style of "Poseidon", and the orchestration and improv found on "Lizard". I have always been amazed at "Islands" profound musical extentions and emphasis on experimentation with its extended compositions. Critics harsh opinins on "Islands" seem to be mostly focused on the poor and inadequate lead singing of Boz Burrel (BAD COMPANY). In contrast my opinion is that Boz is more than adequate and offers a nice change from Mr. Wetton and actually gives "Islands" a different feel and identity than previous albums. "Islands" emphasizes its creators brilliance (Robert Fripp & Peter Sinfield) who were a very creative and "progressive" duo as demonstrated here. KING CRIMSON here rely heavily on classical instrumentation without ever getting too dominant. Guest musicians bring a nice musical influence with piano, vocal soprano, oboe, Cornet and string bass. This album also shows Fripp's Mellotron playing at it's best, along with his arrangement and composition skills. The standout for me is Fripp's use of the Mellotron (not to mention the 'ol guitar work). All in all this is a great recording and for me stands out as a great contribution to the wonderful world of progressive rock.

This CRIMSON album is very good!! The Pete Sinfield influence is clear here: floating mellotron, saxophones, wind instruments, this is a really peaceful and relaxing album. The songs are mellow, and there are even some jazzy and bluesy styles involved. There are beautiful string arrangements on "song of the gulls". And "Islands" is one of my favorite CRIMSON's song: a mellow and relaxing mix of catchy piano, small wind instruments, smooth vocals, that can be listened endlessly.

Stilted but still fitfully brilliant, "Islands" accepts Athena's bright beacon and runs with it (straight into the ground sometimes). Perhaps it's the loosely woven "Formentera Lady" that gives the impression of a listing ship; earlier CRIMSON albums began with a battle, but "Islands" ambles in with an offhand artiness that suggests bored jazz players pitted against their progressive captain in mutinous indolence. New vocalist/bassist BOZ BURRELL possesses some of GORDON HASKELL's sleepy charm, though nothing on here creeps with the hushed beauty of a "Cadence and Cascade." The eye-opening instrumental occurs on "Sailor's Tale", a cranky piece that at least climbs partway up the tall spires of past achievements (though IAN WALLACE's drum parts are remarkably uninspired in spots). It's here that "Islands"' Achilles' Heel is exposed: this incarnation of CRIMSON simply doesn't possess the requisite hands to propel their craft past the precipitous rocks that have sunk so many ambitious musical sailors in the past. ROBERT FRIPP can't steer and stroke, leaving the album to either slow down or move quickly but off by degrees. That said, there are many things that even a mediocre Crimson album can achieve: moments of blistering fury, soft pockets of artful imagery in PETER SINFIELD's lyrics, a cool command of orchestral elements that oozes pretty thoughts. "Islands" has all of these, while testing the patience of less resolute adventurers with digressions into squalls of saxophone, dissonant clashes, and limply handled passages.

The more I listen to this (and, honestly, it's always something of a chore), the less I distinguish between "Islands" and "Lizard", placing them both on a pedestal slightly below their first two albums. You, in your unshakable fealty to the KING, might find this a lady worth championing, citing "Formentera Lady" or "Ladies of the Road" as distressed damsels. And there is no denying that the orchestral "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a refined interlude worthy of royalty. Yet this remains my least favorite of the CRIMSON studio albums, good insofar as the participation of FRIPP and Sinfield would brook no failure, yet the last place to look for the KING's true treasures.

I love this record. It so versatile innovative and melodic.The perfect mix of prog with jazzy playng of Keith Tippett. The Fripp's solo on Sailor's Song is unforgettable. Beatlesque Ladies of the Road, tragic and poignant The Letters, Renaissance Song Of The Gulls adopted from earlier Suite No. 1 and moody title song. Although the word is that the group was struggling to fill up the album, so they included Suite and made Islands longer, but I thing that even so, it just made the record perfect.

One of the most underrated KC album and one which doesn't deliver is full blast at first listening. Intimacy ( Islands) and grandeur (sailor tale) are "de rigueur". In between unexpected corrosive humour (ladies of the road) and strange poetry (the letter): but the best, the most furious beauty stand in the music, not in the lyrics ; listen to unbelievable R.Fripp and Mel Collins maestria . Moreover, at that time, Pete Sinfield had almost left the band...

This album, for some reason, is extremely underrated by the press. I personally think that this album is a masterpiece. It's like neo-classical jazz. This album really shows how diverse King Crimson can be. This is a great album so get it now. Seriously, you should atleast hear this album if you're into King Crimson.

Perhaps it's because it was the first Crimson album I heard but I've always had a soft spot for this one.It may not have any of the edginess or innovation of the other albums, but it has way more heart and , in a very English way, soul. My brother asked me to check out the guitar solo on 'Sailor's tale' but my 12 year old mind was blown away before I even got there and I was hooked on this band's unique style for ever. Even Formentera Lady, usually most critics example of prog excess, has a laid back, chilled feel that can be hypnotic. As for the rest: Sailor's Tale one of only 2 tracks Crimson did that sounds better in the studio than live (the other being Starless on Red), 'The Letter' is trad crim, 'Ladies of the road', though somewhat mysoginist by today's standards, reminds their critics that Crim have always had an earthy sense of humour behind the apocalyptic visions and the last 2 tracks I find myself coming back to again and again like a favourite childhood memory.By the way, check out the incredible guitar solo in Sailors Tale!

i know that the opinions about this record are split, but for me this is the masterpiece of KC. only RED matches its creativity and imagination, but ISLANDS is more fun with briliant tracks like 'saylor's tale' and 'ladies of the road'. the title-track 'islands' is one of the nicest accomplishments of all jazz-rock-fusion that i remember, finishing off in style an art album.

Maybe King Crimson worst album... and yet it´s very good!!! It´s just like that, King Crimson can not make an bad album, specially not the 70´s Crimson. But I do have to say that I don´t like this one as much as "Red", "In the Court ..." (my absolut favorite) or "Discipline". Maybe because it´s too... relaxed, so don´t expect hard songs like "21 st century schizoid man" or "Red". But if you are in the mood for something like that, then theres nothing better. I personally find the two instrumental songs to be the best of all the album, specially "Sailors Tale". That song is just so Fripp. So remember, its a good album, but if you like the rather hard side of the group, then you really should think it twice...

After many years of disliking this album I'll admit it has grown on me on time, and while it still doesn't reach up to the onslaughts that is 'Lizard' or 'In the Court..' the whole album is equally as atmospheric and haunting. Prime examples of this occours in the closing title track and the slightly psychotic "The Letters", the former represent the best of early Crim's beauty, the latter the beast as it tells the story of a raging wife killing her cheating husband. The unnerving middle section of the piece seem to sum up her procedure pretty well. The new lineup including Ian Wallace and Boz Burrel certainly isn't as interesting as the Lake/Giles era though Robert Fripp's unique techniques starts to shine brightly here, giving the music an extra boost within the beauty. The compositions are generally more toned down compared to earlier works but musically very interesting all the way through, the only exception being the (in my opinion) failed classical experiment "Song of the Gulls", a track that never have interested me. One of the few "skippers" in Crim's catalogue. Fairly even album in the end and worth 3.5 stars.

Every time I listen to "Islands", I wonder what it would have been like to hear it without already knowing it to be a KING CRIMSON album. I have the sad sense that I would have appreciated it a little more if it was someone else, as it is quite good- but in a very different vein than most of the KC discography. Any fans of OPETH will understand completely when I compare this album with "Damnation", as both albums focus on the softer side of a typically louder, noisier band.

There are indeed many elements missing; the opening is a slow burn of dark strings and faint vocals rather than the usual mind-blowing KC overture, the bass and drums are rarely allowed to stretch their legs, and Fripp's masterful guitar is almost completely absent. Perhaps he was concentrating on the arrangements; "Song of the Gulls", although simply sublime and on par with any modern orchestral work, is almost completely devoid of any distinguishing KING CRIMSON sonic characteristics, as is much of the title track. "Ladies of the Road" is the single rocking exception, where one can hear plenty of proto-"Easy Money" style, and even some interestingly Beatle-esque harmonies.

I'll be the first to let Boz off easily; his voice is capable, if almost pointedly unremarkable; I'm occasionally reminded of Collins' quieter "Trick of the Tail" moments, and of Hammill during the brief periods of assertion (such as the "impaled on nails of ice" bit near the end of "The Letters"). His bass playing is at least never allowed to ruin the overall sound. I wonder if Sinfield had any objections to the mainly inaudible delivery of his lyrics...or perhaps it was intentional; aside from the baroque yet minimal excellence of "The Letter", his lyrics on the album mainly range from a now-tired retread of the classical references ("Here Odysseus charmed for dark Circe fell") to a limp stilted attempt on "Ladies of the Road" (just what rock needed, another 'road sex' song...but this time with failed humor and sneering pretentiousness to rob it of any of the usual visceral qualities). Don't fret, Palmer-James is coming to save the day soon...

From the flute intro to the final sax improvisations, this is the most Mel Collins-heavy KC album. One might say that it's his consistent and diverse talents that hold it together; I'm surprised to say that compared to the other instruments, there are twice as many impressive flute and sax moments. The secondary players also tend to steal the show; the rising, repeated string section topped by Tippet's piano and Charig's cornet soloing on "Islands" is the tender climax of the album.

Taken on its own merits, I enjoy "Islands" immensely; as a KING CRIMSON fan, I have difficulty placing it among either my favorite albums or the ones which more obviously show the relentless cacophonic experimental genius of the band. Whereas many people are often intimidated by other KC albums' noisier passages, the improvisation on "Islands" is actually more accessible with the use of acoustic and classical instrumentation; fans of post- rock or chamber music will absolutely adore this sound (compare the final minutes of "Islands" with GODSPEED! YOU BLACK EMPEROR's "Lift your Skinny Fists"). Those who prefer a more tightly focused virtuosity, on the other hand, will most likely dismiss this album as a low-key wash of half-realized ideas.

When I first heard 'Islands' in 1974 I was not only enthusiastic about it,but even thrilled! Few minutes ago I have just finished listening to it once again (on the vinyl!) and feeling is the same. This album represents what the prog music is all about. From 'Formentera Lady' opening track on A side with its experimental impro, through strong tempo of 'Sailor's tale' to the tranquilizing ' The Letters'. B side is starting with more common 'Ladies Of The Road' and then you here classical tune of 'Song Of The Gulls' and almost you can imagine maestro Fripp conducting this small, harmonious ensemble. Closing title track fascinates with beautiful melodic lines, nicely interplayed by piano, oboe and cornet. Thirty years ago, after first listening , I wrote a letter to my friend describing him how excited I was by this album. Now, I'm submitting this review of mine with the statement:absolute masterpiece-essential.

Unlike most of the band's fans and supporters, I have always considered this as their best release or at least equally best to "In the court..." and I still do. We have a strange mix of soft melodies, dreamy atmospheres with a prog touch of insanity, always found in King Crimson's albums. Ian Wallace is probably equally good to Greg Lake and performs really well on all the tracks of the album, giving a special note of calmness, with the style of his voice, but also a bit of sick/weirdness alongside with the change of the music style on several parts of the album(take Ladies of the Road for instance). A travel through majectic islands with the music painting pictures in your head while listening to this album, just to make them fall apart right afterwards, guiding you into unshaped forms of insanity. I like the jazz touch of the album, along with the classical stuff that always define King Crimson's early period's albums. A total masterpiece.

Islands is simply a fine addition to your prog collection. It covers the more classical oriented prog, while maintaining a sense of progressive rock. This album requires some patience, as it is slow, but nicely so.

Formentera Lady starts with a nice contrabass taking you right away into the classical atmosphere. Soon joined with some nice flute, and completed with the neat singing voice. Sadly, this part takes too long. After about 3 minutes, the song starts to take off with the brilliant jazzy drums starting off somewhat timidly, but getting better throughout the album. Take care to listen to the brilliant piano improvising. In the next part, there are some nice acoustic guitar parts, showcasing Fripp's prowess on guitar once more. This part is also a bit too long. The end of the song shows some brilliant improvisational parts though.

Sailor's Tale is my second favourite on the album, starting off with funky drums, joined soon by guitar and saxophone. The guitar solo part here fits veryw ell into the song, leading into a climax that is very nice, with a few of the instruments playing a somewhat higher note beautifully fitting into the rythmical motif. The saxophone solo is amazing, as I'm used to from Mel Collins. The song starts off into a groovy laidback part next, featuring Fripp's blazing on guitar. His melodic and rythmical difference from the bass and drums here are brilliant, but the repetition is somewhat boring. Suddenly this part picks up speed, followed with some orchestral backing, and the drums improvising very well. All in all a nice song, though somewhat repetitive.

The Letters begins with singing and really birlliant acoustic guitar work again. This part is very emotionally encouraging, if you listen closely to the guitar gently picking continuously alternating melodies. Suddenly an explosion of music! Well done here KC! this is what prog is about! After this the song takes back to a more mellow part, with all of the band members showing that they make music like it's supposed to be, complex, virtuous and well within the general feeling of the song.

The Ladies of the Road is my favourite song, though it is very repetitive. The bass and drums are very funky in this song, with great saxophone playing in the beginning. The singer does a good job on this song, showing some emotions worked into his voice. The chorus is wonderfully soft, with the high guitar sound and the second voices. These parts repeat, which is a pity, I really feel they could have made so much out of this song. At the end of the song a wonderful sax solo enters, showing Mel at work once more.

The Song of the Gulls is a beautiful classical part, leading into Islands quite well. As with most of this album, the song is too long, and too repetitive for it's length. The fact that it is classical doesn't matter that much, as it's wonderful in combination with the rest of the album. It leads into Islands quite well, with the melodies resembling in the beginning of Islands. Islands is a very sadness inducing song at first, with it's slow rythym, descending flute playing(or is that another windinstrument?). Also, as in South Side of the Sky's bridge part, the pianos do a wonderful part in creating the beautiful atmosphere. After this part, a lone saxophone plays, the emptiness of it all adding to the sad atmosphere. Then the vocals-flute-piano part repeat, with a violin in there instead of the flute. After this an uptaking part starts reminding me of Chelsea from the Counting Crows. Nice and beautiful it is, were it not too long, you wait and wait until the climax comes, after which the sax trails dissappointingly off in another direction.

If you wait for a while when the song ends, a sort of bonus part comes containing some playing byt the orchestra and people saying stuff in the background.

If you like strings arrangements, are into classical, or like softer more careful prog, instilling emotions of beauty in you, you'll like Islands very much. I find it to be beautiful in it's softness, and emptiness. Then again, the album IS repetitive and takes too long to change melody and rythym throughout the songs, there isn't as much evolution in there as other progalbums. I'm therefor inclined to give it three stars, but seeing as it has another approach, leaning more on softer playing, and it differs from everything else, I'll give it four since this way, it complements any prog collection very nicely!

Islands is a masterpiece. Released in 1971 it stil stands ( anno 2005 ) as a milestone of progressive rock. The arrangements are superb ( listen to the harmoniumpart in Island and the trumpet solo !!!!! ). Ladies Of The Road is together with Islands my favourite piece of the album, but the other pieces are also very very very good. This is essential listening, a must for every collector ... Islands is the best King Crimson album !!!

Perhaps, my favorite KC album. Altough I've read that people didn't really care for Boz' vocals, I view them as the best from any KC album. What I don't get is Boz being credited with choreography (haha). "Sailor's Tale" is a searing freakout, cathartic instrumental, that really stands out for me. The seamless transition from "Formentera Lady" to "Sailor's Tale" is great. Boz' vocals really come out on "The Letters" which is a dramatic song about infidelity. The chorus in "Ladies of the Road" is really wonderful, with vocal participation from Ian Wallace and Mel Collins. Fripp's guitar playing is excellent throughout and his instrumental "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is one of his most delicate and pastoral compositions. "Islands" is a very subtle ending to this album and is a continuation of sorts of the previous song. This album serves as a transitional album, from their earlier albums, to their next couple of amazing albums. If you can find this and you like KC, then buy it, I've only got it on record, but when it's back in print on cd, I'll definately pick up on that also.

PEACE & TAKE CARE

I'm not personally very fond of this album, which I consider as a symptom of rebirth pains deeper within Robert's musical journeys. Usually King Crimson has had exceptional bass players, but here the weak singer Boz has been taught to play that instrument by Fripp only few weeks before the recordings and tours of this album. Also many of the compositions are quite weak, "Sailor's Tale" and "The Letters" being the best of them in my opinion. On the time of this album I think Robert was searching new possibilities of implementing classical music textures to the heavy symphonic sound, now floating towards lighter baroque straits. For example the prelude for the closing title number is a conservative small neo-classical suite, and Keith Tippet's ethereal piano illuminates some romantic classicism to the opening of "Formentera Lady". I understood there were already strong tensions between the lyricist Peter Sinfield and Robert when this LP was done, and the band soon fell apart. The Phoenix which rose from that ash was luckily worth of all this chaos, Peter creating a wonderful solo album with the help from Crimsoid musicians, and Robert gathered new more powerful persons for his upcoming wonderful steps on art rock straits.

Islands ? No. 4 Studio album by Crimson, features again major changes in the band. Andy McCulloch replaces by Jazz drummer Ian Wallace, renown for his hard beats on the drumset. His drumming on Islands is more straight forward than McCulloch's on Lizard, but that may be because the album overall, is more "clean" in the sound and compositions. Boz Burrell replaces Haskell on vocals and Bass. Still with Mel Collins on flutes & sax, and guest pianist Keith Tippet. Features also soprano, oboe, cornet and string bass. The album starts out with the 10 min "Formentera Lady" continuing directly into "Sailor's Tale", without break, allmost 18 min of magical Crimson music. After only a few minutes one thing stands clear, Islands is going to be very diffrent from Lizard, and anything else Crimson had done before. Opening with a bass soloing, flute soloing, piano moods, asian style persussions, and then a straight forward vocal singing, still on this moody music, with an unclear melody. Bass starts on a main theme in the composition, a dobbelt beat (bum bum... bum bum... bum bum) There is a very asian sence to the hole setup, never seen with Crimson before. Some great solo's on the "bum bum... bum bum... bum bum" theme. In between those, Boz delivers the song. Moves directly into "Sailor's Tale", starting out with a much faster drumbeat. Some very nice saxophone and guitar duels, the beat slows down, and Fripp deliver some of his best rythm guitar ever. After this great start the next track is a huge disapointment, "The Letters" is a strange mix of an attempt to make a beauti, like "Cadance and Cascade" or "Lady of the Dancing Water" , and a progressive powerrock thing. Both fail, and it leaves me with nothing. Then "Ladies of the Road" opens side B, a straight forward rock song, or at least as straight as Crimson can be, of the most lovable kind. Fun lyrics, some nice sax work, deasent singing, but no masterpiece of prog. indeed. The kind of song you would use to get people interested in King Crimson. But to me personally a song that dosent fit this album well. Now to the conclusion of the album, "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" and "Islands" The first basicly a classical composition, and preformed as such. May not be Mozart or Franz Schubert but it works perfectly as the Prelude for "Islands". "Islands" a very melodic, beautiful song, very dark and soft at the same time. I get a feeling of something very old, even though I realise its a very modern composition. A true mix of elements from Jazz, Classical and Rock music. A great song, when you are in the mood for something soft and beautiful, this is one of the best Crimson ballads. The album ends out with some studio nonsence.

So how do I rate this, start and ending truely deserves 5 stars, but the mid section especialy "The Letters", is a major setback. I will give it 4 stars, it does contain some of the best Crimson moments, sadly also one of the worst.

There is no such a thing as "the soft side of king crimson". In fact, I don't percieve pop music as "relaxing" or " stressing". (That use of sounds belongs to ambient music, which unfortunately is not on this site for some crack heads won't admit Eno's works here -though we got TONS AND TONS of the so called "prog metal" crapp). Closed parenthesis ... ah yes, Islands. I loved it. It's the most delicate work made by KC. They actually put some mediterranean feeling in those songs, and even some art. Formentera lady spread visions of little vilages lying over the water, while The sailor's tale explodes deep blue from the ocean. The letters is nice, a little bit pretentious, but lovable lyrics and icy vocals. Wanna know how KC play Beatles? Listen to "ladies of the road", definitely one of KC best pieces, full of irony and 70s musical ( not only...) cliches. Yet another pretentious track, "Prelude". I like it, but I admit classical definitely needs more brains and time than a rock band could ever have. Sorry Fripp. Islands is another great KC track, underrated by the average prog rock listener, behaviour which I retain normal. But guys just pay attention over the sweet saxophone solo, the music melting in your hears, it's a bliss. Boz sounded uninspired on lives, but not here.....

So, I think we can put it along with KC best albums, THIS IS ACTUALLY REALLY PROGRESSIVE POPULAR MUSIC. Bye !!!

I cant help it but i yust love this CD, and have done so since the first time i heard it, it was not hard at all to get in to this beautiful set of music i have hade much more problem with larks toung in aspic, the first time i put this on and heard "Formentera lady" i fell in love right away, beautiful is to word for that song, then comes Sailors tale the only song i hade heard befor i bought the album and i think its a great jam one of the best king crimosn have ever done, then we have The laters and its another good song and a litle strange, lady of the roades next woow cool song and a litle funy too i think well the most funy song on the album, Song of the gules a great classical piece, and the final track the best one on the album Islands the begining is fantasticly beautiful and soo it goes on. This album as it seems are not for everyone the music is slow not very rocking, but if you whont a slow beautiful Jazzy album, this is a great one and i for one love it.

After the disastrous LIZARD lineup of 1970, Robert Fripp regrouped King Crimson in 1971, to record the last album of their "classic" period (1969-71). The new lineup is an almost complete turnover, with the exception of Mel Collins, and Robert Fripp himself. Ian Wallace replaces McCulloch on drums, and is weaker. 'Boz' Burrell, a traditionally Blues singer is brought on to replace vocalist Gordon Haskell. Boz is a noted step down from the two previous Crimson vocalists. He also plays Bass Guitar on the album, due to bassist Rick Kemp exiting the band at the last minute. Robert Fripp had to teach Boz Burrell the instrument himself over the course of several months before recording. Predictably, Burrell's playing on the album is weak. This is generally considered the weakest of the numerous King Crimson lineups, and ISLANDS is an accordingly weak album. This lineup toured extensively, and can be heard live on the awful live LP EARTHBOUND (1972).

ISLANDS has it's moments, but for the most part is a very diluted album. The bright spots do not make up for it's many flaws. This album is much mellower than its three predecessors, and has more of a classical inflection. The album suffers from way too much improvisation, with sub standard musicians, especially compared with other King Crimson lineups. ISLANDS begins with Formentera Lady, which begins nicely, with gorgeous mellotron, but quickly runs out of steam and plods aimlessly for about ten minutes, with occasional good moments thrown in. A very weak opening for a King Crimson work when compared with their other albums. The next track, Sailor's Tail, is promising at first, with excellent guitar and mellotron improvisations from Robert Fripp. Like Formentera Lady, this song does not quite know when to stop, and repeats the same material for seven minutes; a very wearisome song. The Letters is just plain bizarre, a mediocre piece that does not arouse strong feelings either way, especially with Boz Burrell's flat delivery. As oppose to on LIZARD (1970), Mel Collins and the other woodwind/brass players sound much flatter and uninspired on this album, and this is especially apparent on The Letters. Side Two picks up, with the best song on the album, the lighthearted Ladies of the Road. This is a catchy song, with humorous Sinfield lyrics about female groupies. Unlike the largely improvisational Side One, Ladies is surprisingly composed. It also has an interesting Beatlesque refrain in some parts, with the backing vocals imitating Lennon perfectly. Quite odd. The next piece is also great. Prelude: Song of Gulls is Crimson's most classical piece ever, and is simply breathtaking. It does not quite fit in with the sloppy improv on the rest of the album, with its measured, carefully composed, stately grace. Sadly, it lasts for only three minutes, and the album returns to it's weak material, with the 'epic', Islands. This track, a cousin to Formentera Lady also suffers from being overdrawn, and easily could of been done in five minutes. It ends with pure nonsense, the last three minutes consisting of silence, laughing, talking, and occasional music. A sad end to a bad album.

3.5 stars - This album has its moments, but be ready to sit through lots of boring ones to find them. This is only my opinion, and fans are divided, though this album is generally disliked. Fans of KC's more classical/symphonic work will probably enjoy parts of this album, and one should remember it only is bad when compared to the other quality outputs by King Crimson. (I rate this album as good, enjoyable, but not essential)

**** After significant thought, I am upgrading this to a four star album. My above review is certainly accurate for a first impression, and many reviewers share these sentiments. However, after repeated listens, the subtle beauties of Islands begin to reveal themselves: The pitch-perfect, elegiac horn theme in the middle of Islands, Keith Tippet's nuanced and energetic keys in the periphery of the album and the sheer dynamism and relaxed gorgeousness of Formenteta Lady, to name a few. A perfect album for a gentle summer evening or a long car ride. In most respects, King Crimson would never recapture the beauty and delicateness of this album again, a real shame. I was much to hard on this album, and I'd go so far as to call my above review ignorant. However I don't have the time to change it now. This was one of the most unique Krim lineups ever, and its a real shame that Fripp abandoned the more acoustic tones of this album, and by the 1980s slipped completely into a boring guitar-bass-drum format. Islands, to put it shortly, is a melodic and soft album that deserves better.

This album is loved to tell the truth personally. This work is a serene silence, and the magical when the work mesne of Crimson. Strong magnetism is kept secret in that though it is not a stocky performance like "In the court of crimson king" but a chaotic and meditated performance. Heavens beauty of mystery of "Formentera lady" and "Islands" is wonderful no matter how it listens. It had surprise when listening to Vorcal of Boz for the first time. Desolate Merotoron of "Sailor's Tale", and after that, it rages and it is terrific of the guitar that gets wrong. I think this is an album most beautiful in Crimson works.

This album is the end of an era for King Crimson. After this tour, there is a complete change in lineups. The band would abandon wind instruments and their signature sound for a harder, raw rock approach that has pretty much been the crux of their sound ever since. Nevertheless, this album is another excellent outing. By this point, Robert Fripp is the only original member in the band. The new vocalist, Boz Burrell, was most likely chosen for his range, as he can more easily sing Greg Lake's parts. His voice is an aquired taste.

The beginning of this album is excellent. It starts softly with flutes and othe classical instruments weaving through Boz's soft voice. After the inital parts are sung, it drifts into a jam that slowly gets more dissonent and chaotic. Finally the song rips into Sailors Tail, quite possibly the best instrumental track King Crimson has ever recorded. It is fast, it is catchy, and it is dark. Once the mellotron kicks in and drowns out the rest of the music, it is clear that King Crimson is a force to be reckoned with. The Letters is another dark and evil sounding song that is reminiscent of schizoid song, but much slower. It actually comes across as a much darker song because of this. Ladies of the Road is the most well known song off this album, but in my opinion it is the worst song on the album. Prelude is a beautiful string arrangement that balances the dissonance of the first side of the album perfectly. Finally, the album ends with Islands, another soft song, similar to Formentera Lady, except this one doesn't all go to hell. Not quite as interesting because of that, but still beautiful.

I am not accustomed to use the words 'masterpiece' and 'genius' freely. ISLANDS is one of MUSIC's Masterpieces. Without doubt. It contains at least 3 'miraculous' moments. Musical alchemy occurs. It is a record that makes you cry.Because it is sad,happy,and beautiful.Like life. It is a gem that will one day receive the acclaim it deserves.Or maybe not. It eludes even Mr. Fripp's control. Poets,musicians,and sensitive souls...HERE is YOUR record. Thank you,your highness King Crimson.

In the context of all King Crimson's seventies output the line up responsible for this album has to be the least rewarding. Islands has a jazz flavour running through the haphazard selection of cuts but there is very little focus involved in organising the structures into cohesive pieces that might have made this a more worthwhile album. The whole selection of the compositions, especially on the A side, comes across as one relentless jam with the occasional inspired moment breaking through, drummer Ian Wallace keeps things interesting from time to time. The monstrous cello which barges the album in on the opener "Formentera Lady" is a false dawn and not a weight with to measure the power, or lack of, on the album. Boz Burrell beside playing bass does his best Greg Lake impression on vocals and it might just be that Fripp was still trying to re-create the first incarnation of King Crimson but while Mel Collins (flute and various saxophones) and Boz Burrell were solid and well capable musicians the music of Islands is one long leaderless jam. "Ladies Of The Road" is more a comedy piece than anything else, serving as a prototype for "Easy Money" on the Larks Tongues In Aspic album which would follow. Boz is credited with "Choreography" on the album notes and I can just imagine him as Crimson Court jester like and being bullied on by King Fripp to act out the routine that might accompany this track. Title track "Islands" is a song that never fully gets going and in that respect is a bona fide piece of traditional prog rock. Fripp must have stood well back at this stage and wondered where he was and where all this was actually going, if indeed it was going anywhere. There was hardly any way to progress with this line up without the music becoming more unclear and more muddy despite the talent of the musicians involved, some serious restraint was needed. Islands is a frustrating and very loose concept but Fripp would trim the band down and move toward new territory while trashing away the frustrations of this period of King Crimson which in my mind is stillborn. The next chapter of King Crimson with a tighter line up and more focused direction would prove very rewarding.

Nearer to 2 and a half stars than three.

Beautifull album. Slow and soft development of the pieces. The people who know the other pieces of KC will know there's also a soft side to KC's music, but this is an album that entirely revolves around soft and gentle musical pieces, with only some parts that bring out the more rough and heavy moments KC is renowned for. If you're not familiar with King Crimson don't start with this album, for it's not the best introduction to the band.

Formentara Lady sets the tone for the album, with soft soothing tranquill music that floats through the speakers and a soft voice almost whispering above the silent sounds. really brilliant, drop the volume and drift away on the calm waves.

Sailor's Tale picks up some speed, but remains in line with the previous song, with beautifull drum/bass rhythms and fabulous saxophone play. Halfway Fripp diverts with his guitar from the underlying rhythmic motifs. This is awsome music.

The Letters after the slow increase in power on the previous song, one would expect that line to be continued, but no. Krimson drops back to very soft antiques again, only augmented with one or two bursts of power.

Ladies Of The Road Wonderfull song, some beautifull changes and typical King crimson heavy pieces incorporated in this funky song.

Prelude; Song Of The Gulls breathtakingly beautifull classic sounding piece, no drums or bass as far as I can tell enter this song, just soft symphonics. Brilliant.

Islands The title song of the album, and again the heavy parts of KC are left out, focussing on slow sad natural flowing music, with a soft voice, and beautifull piano play.

Compared to the earlier albums, and certainly to the later offerings Islands stands alone as the most soft and tender side of the usual rough edged King Crimson. Fripps guitar is hardly present, and the most intense moments evolve around Mel Collins' saxophone. Beautifull and soft. play it at low volume in a dark envirement, breathtakingly beautifull, but not all will apreciate this gem. Listen before buying.

One of the most controversial as well accessible albums by K.C., containing a famous track like "Formentera Lady" (quite unusual, also for their standard, regarding of their experimental music), whose harmonic construction -along with its melodic line- is simple, however often being very pretty .therefore-generally- the present work is diverse, this time characterizing their easier rock and a kind of immediate music language too, absolutely strange for them.

Honestly- thanks also to the orchestral arrangement of strings all along its short duration, making it so interesting and never prolix, I think that "Island" is worth checking out at least, in spite of its unevenness (especially in the track "Sailor's Tale"). In fact for instance if you think of another recent album entitled "Overground Music" by After Crying (dated 1990), above all in a few light moments, I become more enthusiastic yet about almost each simple album by K.C.: A.C.'s 1st album and sometimes also their "Megalázottak és megszomorítottak" contain the same light unplugged stuff and a few songs with a similar melodic mood even though in a more melancholic vein (partially as within "Island" and "Lizard"), but after all even in the most accessible passages (a few ones actually)- I regard them as one of the best groups.They demonstrate to be skilful in the reproduction of those melodic elements, along with some of their typical refined music features, which made the fortune of K.C. in the past!! Ok that's valid for a relative ensemble like A.C., being strictly connected to K.C., but these latter after all - in spite of getting more and more opportunities inside the present music market-in the recent times haven't pursued such a different "policy" anymore...nowadays They are progressively entering a sort of "unknown" post rock scene, always within the world of the underground music,especially in comparison to their glorious past, and that's quite sad for me!!.Never mind, coming back to the present issue, I don't know whether it's essential or less, but for sure it's never boring nor too much "brainy", becoming pleasant at the end, both on the classic rock side and on that "refined" one of classical music, even though in a few moments!!

One of the albums of King Crimson which I prefer. One of ten albums of progressive which I like. Certainly a very "puzzling" album. But one of the most original. An album which eyes up constantly on the register "classical music". It is simple, it is beautiful. A true symphonic sweetness. Boz Burrell's voice is very well used. Mel Collins's saxophone is discreet and inspired. Robert Fripp is equal to himself. A very beautiful album.

Even if this one is quite diferent from their other early 70's releases "Islands" is actually an excellent album by them although it took quite a few spins for me to love it. Maybe because it's a rather quiet and classically influenced one it's not immediately that much captivating and fascinating. But once one had got into the music it's really awesome. Most of the tracks on here are very pleasant and highly enjoyable, only the final part of "Formentera Lady" with the extreme high-pitched vocals and the sax part in the beginning of "Sailor's Tale" are a bit more difficult to support in the beginning. For retrieving maximum pleasure one should certainly be not too sensitive for such tunes. But actually there is not one weak track on here. Highlights? - Well I would almost say all of them. But my favorites are "Sailor's Tale", "Ladies Of The Road", "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls (wonderful pure classical piece!) and "Islands". After the title track there is still a hidden track containing only voice and tuning sound from a concert. Nice joke, not really relevant but neither disturbing at all since it's at the end of the record. I'd like to rate this album with the highest score since IMO it was together with RED (representing best the hard-edged side of them) their best album without any flaws!

A review about a K.C. album is probably the most subjective and biased piece of writing to be written about any release from any band. Trust me on this. Everybody loves and hates KING CRIMSON. Each album gets its detractors and its followers. And the thing about this band is that nobody stands still: you either hate it so badly it will give you stomach aches each listen or you love it so much you'll defend it to your death.

The line-up on this particular release is quite special because we have as main driving force not only Fripp, as usual, but also saxman/fluteman Mel Collins. On compositions such as "The Letters" or "Formentera Lady" his melodic sax or flute or whatever the hell he's playing at the moment show up and enlighten everything. Collins is the man in quite a few moments. Fripp, as usual, is a master, and on "Sailor's Tale" a solo comprised solely of chords is both impressive and inventive. A nasty, damn nasty (in a good way of course, hehe), foreshadowing of what's gonna come up in albums like LARKS' TONGUES IN ASPIC, RED, and all the way up to THRAK and THE POWER TO BELIEVE. Vocalist/bassist Boz does his duty on vocals. Specifically in this album he perhaps does not demonstrate his capabilities to the fullest but in the live release "Live at Summit Studios, 1972" Boz pulls an incredible live performance of the quality of Greg Lake. Boz singing "21st Century Schizoid Man" is as ad hoc as it gets. The man can sing. Refer to the high pitched insane throat-splitting semi-growls on "Ladies of the Road" (specifically "Stone headed frisco spacer") to get an idea of what he can do. They just didn't use this guy well in this album, and he probably was rather unconscious of his rare talent to give you the impression he's having a psychotic breakdown. Furthermore, the bass he plays of course is weak, but bearable. It doesn't kill this album at all. Wallace is alright, some fills are interesting, nothing that special. Which is rather bad for Crimson standards. He quit soon after the touring was done, and that is good. The sooner Bruford gets here, the better.

I must say that Fripp's classical attempt in "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is very effective. The pizzicato decorating the bowed strings as they lay down the foundation for the song, the chord progressions as they intertwine and subtly merge into each other, the slight silences so very well placed, the question and answer between violin and woodwind. Beautiful. The man pulled a Brahms. Sublime and gorgeous.

Get this album. It's worth a listen. I rate it exactly a 4.2 and not a 5 due to: Boz on bass, Keith Tippet not joining the band (you wasted a hell of a pianist there, Fripp), Ian Wallace not impressing me (I have high standards for Crimson drumming after hearing Bruford and Mastelotto double up on "B'Boom", even though they chronologically come up like 25 years after this album), and because of those lyrics sometimes. My theory is that since the instrumentation in Crimson is so awesome, we all expect awesome lyrics. I believe Sinfield could've done better. He DID do better at some points (i.e. 21st Century Schizoid Man, Moonchild, Pictures of a City, Cirkus). It's still not that horrible and it won't ruin the album for anyone. I've heard way worse lyrics that these from other bands (Dream Theater? or Winds?).

Once again, K.C. is THE MOST subjective band out there. Which makes them all the more beautiful to me. Don't take any suggestions about K.C. albums. To decide if you like them, you've got to listen to them. Sometimes a few times to realize that you do get your money's worth, and oftentimes much, much more.

I debated for a long time with myself on the rating I was to give to this album. A part of me wanted to give it only two stars; while the other tried to remind me that, after all, this was King Crimson, and you don't give only two stars to a legend of prog lightly. Eventually I decided for three, though "Islands" is far from being my favourite KC at all. Even "Starless and Bible Black", which is in my opinion the weakest offering from the Fripp-Bruford- Wetton-Cross lineup, is more interesting than this one. However, the quality of the musicianship involved cannot be denied, and Boz Burrell is probably the best KC vocalist after Lake's departure . Compared to the excruciating performance of Gordon Haskell on "Lizard" (which is musically a far better album), his vocals are a breath of fresh air. His voice may not be powerful as Lake's, but it is harmonious and graceful, well-suited to the extremely laid-back quality of the music.

As a matter of fact, 'laid-back' is the operative word here. This record is so mellow and relaxed as to be somewhat soporific. This is not a bad thing in itself, but when every track starts sounding the same as the one before, then you have a problem. That said, "Formentera Lady" and the title-track are quite nice, though not as memorable as other KC tracks, while the instrumentals are not on a par with such legendary pieces as "Red", "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" or even "Discipline". The best song by far, in my opinion, is the quirky "Ladies of the Road", much criticised because of its 'sexist' lyrics (which I don't find offensive at all - I've heard much worse!), featuring a lovely Beatles- tinged chorus and a great vocal performance by Boz.

Obviously "Islands" cannot be ignored by anyone who really wants to get into KC's musical output, but I have to admit that it is one of the weakest links in their excellent production.

This is may be my favorite King Crimson album, but it is still not not a masterpiece in any sense. King Crimson changed music al direction on this album, for the better in my opinion. King Crimson became a vehicle for Fripp's ideas and compositions, although Sinfield is still there to create lyrics. Every time I listen to this album, I thoroughly enjoy every piece/song on it.

The album starts out with Formentera Lady, a Sinfield-penned ballad, sung by Boz Burrell. Many think that Burrell's voice and bass playing are inadequate on this album, but I have to disagree; he may not be the best, but his voice definitely fits the music. Harry Miller provides an excellent string bass part, while Mel Collins's flute flourishes throughout certain parts if the song. Formentera Lady bridges into the Sailor's Tale, a piece accentuated by Fripp's use of the mellotron and guitar. The Sailor's Tale starts out promising, but ends up going on longer than needed. The Letters is another Sinfield song with strange lyrics involving infidelity, and it contains chaotic instrumental passages; it's definitely a darker side of Crimson.

Side Two begins with Ladies of the Road, a definite Crimson classic, although still not my favorite on the album. Boz does an excellent job handling the vocals here. Prelude: Song of the Gulls is a classically-inspired piece composed by Fripp. It's one of the best pieces on the album, followed by Islands, the final and strongest track on the entire album. There is a great deal of emotional impact this song has on me. I love the beautiful Oboe and Cornet parts, the Cornet part performed by a member of Soft Machine and an excellent free-jazz musician. The instrumental passages and vocal textures are the main highlight of the album. Probably one of the greatest album closers in all of King Crimson's discography.

I highly recommend this album. Sure it's very different than every other release, but that is what makes it enjoyable. Every Crimsonite is already going to have it, and if they don't they need to go get it!!! Although this album still has minor flaws, I cannot stop myself from awarding it four stars; it's truly an excellent addition to any progger's collection.

As you may have gleaned reading other reviews, everyone seems to have a very personal reaction to KC's music and it's difficult to write a subjective review. Islands seems to be an album that has a very strong following among certain Crimheads, but for me, it doesn't stand comparison at all well next to some of their later work.

What this album does have that works are two ambituous, complex peices - "Sailor's Tale" is a long Fripp improvisation that sounds like a template for parts of "Cassandra Gemini" by The Mars Volta; and the title track "Islands", preceded by the orchestral "Song of the Gulls", carefully constructed pieces that bear repeated listening.

What I don't like about this album though ......is that in places it sounds all of its 35 years old; Boz Burrell's singing which is ill-suited to the material; and some truly dire lyrics from Pete Sinfield in "Formetera Lady" and especially "Ladies of the Road", the latter being the nearest to a joke track that Crimson have done..though I'm not sure they intended it to be.

Based on the ratings here it just scrapes 3 stars. But, it's a whole world away from the excellent "Lark's Tongues in Aspic" that was to follow.

On this album KG got as close to classical music as possible, especially it reflects on "Prelude". "Ladies of the road" is one of my favourites, for it represents a remarkable mixture of classics and a rock-n-roll song. "Letters" is a dramatic one, which produces a great impression by its lyrics (and it refers to the whole album, the sadder the fact, that it is the last work of Pete Sinfield with Crimso). The title song also sounds like a romance, but a modern one. Brilliant words, wonderful music, performed by talented musicians( Fripp, Collins and Tippett in particular).I dare say it is one of the key works of the early King Crimson. If you want some pleasant emotions, you should listen to it.

From all the studio works from the 70's this is the only bad moment of King Crimson... The album in it's in intirety is boring and uninspired. After the brilliance of Lizard, Fripp exaggerated in the horn instruments and forgot to play guitar. I'm not saying that Mel Collins did a bad work here, no... He's a great flute/sax player and made his job very very well, but... where are the guitar outbreaks and crazy instrumentations of the previous albuns? This recording overstate in calm (and boring) passages that don't go to anywhere... And the bad vocals of Boz Burrell don't help in nothing (the best place for this guy is in Bad Company, only playing the bass, with closed mouth). There are some few good moments in the songs "Sailors Tale", "The Letters". And "Ladies of the Road" is a great track, but they aren't capable to save the album... I could give maybe 2 stars, but are so many people here giving this album what it don't deserve... only 1 star!!!

A very moving album, and the closing chapter of the first Crimson King saga. Islands is definetely one of the most underrated works on prog, and while not a perfect masterpiece, it could be very well one if it weren't for the occasional lack of energy or variety of ideas, which are always present on KC albums, even on the mellower ones. There's a new bass player and vocalist, BOZ BURRE, who together with GORDON HASKELL could very well attend a competition of who is the most underrated vocal man on prog. Each one of those voices fitted very well on their respective albums. Lizard with an "old man voiced-like person" and Islands with a "soft and introspective" voice. On Islands the jazzy approach present on Lizard continues, but in a much softer way. While Lizard was epic and aggressive, Islands is dreamy and mellow, with some classic music influence glued together to make not a boring album, but a listenable and beautiful one. Each song here has an "appeal", no song overshadows the others, they are all in the same level, making this album very consistent.

"Formentera Lady" and "Sailor's Tale" are actually one long epic, the former being the first part of it, and the introduction to this oceanic world found on Islands. Many people think it is boring, but i consider it amazing. The first part is very quiet, setting the album's mood in a very adequate way. The second part, "Sailor's Tale", is the album's best number as it features a true progressive style, reaching its climax when FRIPP delivers his amazing mellotron playing in a hauting section. The whole song is chaotic in a mellow way, if such thing is possible. "The Letters" is melancholic, but when the sax solo enters it becomes schizophrenic. This song kind of reflects the sadness (vocal part) and anger caused due to sadness due to not having the expectations sattisfied (sax solo). "Ladies of the Road" is the more rocky one here, and it is very catchy. "Song of the Gulls" is an unique song on the CRIMSONian repertoire, as they'd never experiment again with such PURE classical music. The title track is reflective, and while many consider it overlong, i think it is great to absorb its essence. A very nice ending, but definetely not an epic, since it doesn't changes its face too much during its lenght. Still, a great and beautiful song.

Not only this album is forgotten and underrated, it is also the last one from the first KC era. From now on, there'll be more experimental works and a touch of "metal" which the band will make an excellent use of. I think the people who dismiss Island for its mellowness and lack of energy should give it some more tries, or listen to it with an open mind. It is an unique album on KC's career, and definetely one of my favourites.

It blows my mind how a band can release this after a masterpiece like Lizard and right before another masterpiece, LTIA. This album is by far my least favorite King Crimson album, and one of my least favorite albums I've ever heard in the symphonic prog category. I have to agree with Useful Idiot here that this is one of true missteps in King Crimson's wonderful career, and with James Lee when he compares this to Opeth's "Damnation" on how it focuses on the soft side of a usually loud band. However, while Damnation was still quite a good album, this borders on awful.

(Mostly) Gone are the hard-edged bursts of insanity, the screeching guitar of Fripp, and the wonderfully written and constantly changing songs. Instead, King Crimson seems to have decided to chill out and let the listener get deeply involved with the "soothing" calm of the album. Unfortunately, there's just not enough here to justify such lazy songwriting. Every song is pretty much slow, soft, and meandering with occassional bursts of good ol' King Crimson styled insanity that make you perk up and hope...and then it goes back to the plodding and neverending...nothingness. The only song that I really enjoyed was Sailor's Tale, a brisk jazzy song with some wonderful guitar work by Fripp in the middle. It starts out a vigorous pace and never really truly lets up all throughout. Nice!

Now, someone reading this might simply think...this kid just doesn't have the patience for slower and more thoughtful jazz prog, does he? On the contrary, I actually am an avid fan of Miles Davis, especially "Kind of Blue". I have the taste for well-done solos, and this album has that in heaps and mounds. However, the floaty and usually tasty solos are not enough to really redeem the boring and simple songwriting. Just take a look at the last six minutes or so of Formentera Lady. Tripe, with occassional snatches of good stuff, like acoustic fun from Fripp, and some nice sax and tons of other stuff going on, but it's done over the same plodding rhythm for six minutes...it hardly builds at all. Song of the Gulls and the title track are almost exactly the same. The title track nearly made me want to shut it off. IT NEVER CHANGED. This is not creative, nor overly pretty. Sure, there are some pretty melodies here and there, but after 10 minutes of it, it tends to wear thin.

I don't get why this album is loved at all. I'm sorry.

Certainly the softest Crimson album ever. And I have to say I have a soft spot for it. I quite like the album. Perhaps it is their weakest, but I still like it (personally, I think their weakest was Lizard). I suppose when lined up with other Crimson albums, the hard core fan would be likely to say it is the worst. Certainly the repetitiveness of Formentera Lady is very un-Crimson like. But what can I say, I like it. This minimalist approach is refreshing to me, and I think the soft vocals compliment it well. A Sailors Tale is an excellent track with a fantastic Fripp solo. The Letters is great as well, with an almost Van der Graaf Generator feel about it (considering Fripp played on Pawn Hearts the same year this album came out, this isn't surprising). Ladies of the Road is not bad, though not great either, and certainly an uncharacteristic lyric for Crimson. The final two songs are quite beautiful, and the type of songwriting and instrumentation that we will never hear again from Crimson. Many reviewers would consider that a good thing, but I would not have minded some more exploration of this type of music by Fripp (though perhaps his soundscapes can be seen in this fasion). All in all, a fine album. I hesitate to give it 4 stars, because someone who likes heavy Crimson may find this quite a let down (and everything else in their catalog is heavier than this). So I will say 3.8 stars for me.

A bit of a one-off album it appears, Islands is thoroughly enjoyable. Very mellow and soothing, Islands is a world apart from nearly every other King Crimson album saving Lizard, which I believe Islands completely improves upon. A few minor Mediterranean and Arabic influences can be heard during certain parts of the album, but these are usually passing moments which never really take hold of the music, but simply give it more depth and variety. The vocals are delightful, but are never captivating. They do produce a few memorable melodies, however.

The two longer songs, "Sailor's Tale" and "Islands," are vastly different and unique. "Sailor's Tale" is a jam that revolves around a simple bass and drum rhythm and a bossa nova beat. It takes many twists and turns, but the violin melody recurring every so often is quite moving. "Islands" is blissfully soft, with one of the few exceptional vocal melodies on Islands.

Of the shorter songs, "Formentera Lady" and "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" are the best. The first repeats the bass and drum rhythm from "Sailor's Tale" with basically the same kind of jam setup. The second is an expertly composed classical piece and is my personal favorite on Islands.

The other two tracks ("The Letters" and "Ladies of the Road") give me the impression that the band thought Islands was too monolithic and wanted to give it some variety. Ha! That could be, but surely they could have picked a better way to add variety than this!? "The Letters" starts off nice, but a sax or oboe or SOMETHING comes in and solos obnoxiously, ruining what could have been a decent song. "Ladies of the Road" is a mindless, annoying jam which sounds like a lesser- version of "Easy Money" towards the end.

These disappointing songs do hold Islands back from reaching 5 stars, but I'm not so sure I'd have the guts to give it 5 stars anyway. Islands is beautiful, soothing, with many pleasing moments. Yet it is a bit single-minded and never strays too far from its mellow course. Still, it is a very good at what it does.

Yes, it's probably the most underrated KC album. And one of few best albums ever made. It goes far beyond the boundaries of rock, even further than Kc usual does. It can remind some of the late medival music. It has beauty, strrenght, intimacy and great, great compositions played just as good as it could be. Title track is easily comparable with "Starless"...

Islands. A strange album that causes the fans of this band to be argue over whether this is a gem or rubbish, with it split about fifty-fifty. Personally, i find portions of Islands fantastic (Islands) and some of it just not that good (Formentera Lady/Saliors Tail). Anyway, as usual for King Crimson, another line up change occured for this one. The most noticable (and the one people seem to complain about) is the addition of Boz on bass, and vocals. Granted he is not as skilled as Lake, Wetton, or Belew (i put him on the same level as haskell) he isn't that bad, and his vocal style fits the album pretty well.

The songs: Formentera Lady. I find this song to go nowhere and not that fast. Definitely the low point of the album. Next comes Sailors Tale. In the same vein as FL, but IMO better. Starts off with a nice cymbol "riff" and also has some nice sax parts. Not as bad as the first track, but not overly fantastic. The Letters come next. Awesome sax part to this one! Also the first time we hear Boz chime in in the vocal department. Nice lyrics top off this very solid track. After that is Ladies Of The Road. A great little catchy song reminiscent, at times, to the british pop bands of the sixties. Great instramental work throught this song (not to mention the album). Prelude: Song Of The Gulls is great if you like classical. A very unexpected turn for KC with this song. Not to say its a perfect classical composition, but very nice and a lovely way to introduce the next song, Islands. This is a masterpiece of a song. Brilliant lyrics, awesome mood creating atmosphere, and one of the best trumpet solos i've ever heard. Such meloncholy is created by this song, truely wonderful! Unfortunatly, for whatever reason, they included a long pause and some studio ramblings at the end. Luckily it is at the end and doesn't ruin the song. Overall, an absolute masterpiece of a song.

All in all this album is uneven. It isn't all that coherant and the songs don't flow as they did in previous albums. Instrumentally there is no complaints, with tons of sax, mellotron, and guitar to satisfy that need. Definitely not KC's highest point, but an album that King Crimson fans should own, but not all of the prog community. Somewhat reccomended (even if its just for Islands).

Another album, another singer - and by far the worst of the first three that have sung for King Crimson. Songs here are ok, but with less highlights than on previous albums.

I would say "Prelude : Song Of The Gulls" and "Islands" are the best songs on this album. The prelude is a great classical piece and the title track is a beautiful slow track with instrumental parts reminding of "Bolero". "The Letters" is very confusing - sounds like a draft for future songs like "Easy Money". The other songs are unremarkable...

Rating: 80/100

It's funny enough that this album was the second album that I listened to after my brother Jokky (he is now a businessman and no longer prog!) introduced me to King Crimson "In The Court of The Crimson King". The first time I listened to "Islands" was in the cassette format and the song truly haunted me especially "Formentera Lady". But I really enjoyed it. When couple of years ago the 30th anniversary remaster edition was released I upgraded into CD format. It's a very informative CD sleeve notes with all old days news with respect to King Crimson. It's wonderful package!

The album is pastoral, orchestral as you might hear from songs like "Formentera Lady", "Song of the Gulls" and the title track. "Sailor's Tale" gives a good transition between early KC sound and the mid 70s. "The Letters" reminds me to one of the early albums. "Ladies of the Road" which I knew from another compilation cassette that my friend lent me at the time, is a bluesy number. For those of you who love King Crimson, it's a must having this album. But if you are new to KC, you'd better start with "In The Court of The Crimson King" and "In The Wake of Poseidon". It's an excellent addition to any prog music collection. Keep on proggin' ..!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW

I must admit that, on first hearing of the album, I did not notice anything particular with it. The songs just went along, and I was not listening to them with attention. But, after having explored the album methodically, song by song, and on its entire entity, after having listened to it for hours, I decided that it was really astoundingly excellent. This is truly a masterpiece. I love it from the frst notes to the last. The bass guitar on Formentera Lady makes me shiver. Song of the gulls is a delightful track - and the last one, Islands, is one of the most subtile and emotionnal thing I've ever heard. This album MUST be discovered. Listen to it again and again, till you're penetrated with the notes to your bones!

This is my favourite by King Crimson (minus the fripptonics by Fripp and friends), the one that works on the narrative level as well as on the musical level. The cello intro has yet to be beaten in any form nor in any style of music. Of course, there were those intros by Miles Davis' All Blues and the Beatles' Hard Day's Night and Day Tripper, still Islands is the LP I put on when I need to experience modern music as narrative form. I remember spending evenings trying to get friends to appreciate this magical narrative experience, and it always worked. Fripp's astonishing chord solo has never been matched. But this obsession with breaking up the chord is what led him, in my humble opinion, to the modern outfit called King Crimson with Belew and great company. This is modern Be-Bop. Parker on guitar. But it starts here on Island, only on a softer note. It's where it begins, the cry for melody that is broken up by modern madness. Islands is where it becomes serious for Fripp. This is Fripp and friends allowing the feminine side to finally take over roch and roll. Brought to complete fruition with Sunday all over the world (a must).

'Islands' was released in 1971 and was King Crimson's fourth studio record. The band has changed a lot in the meantime and left only Robert Fripp and Pete Sinfield as original members, who signed all the tracks, but the two instrumentals together.From the more Symphonic metal outfit of the beginnigs,the band moved into Jazz Rock with Mel Collins on sax, Boz Borrell on bass and lead vocals and Ian Wallace on drumsplus some guest artists from the Jazz-Rock field like Keith Tippet and Marc Charig.The overall athmosphere is the typical Frippish one of tension, threat and danger which he supports all through the record with his trashing biting guitar play, alternating with some sweeter passages.

'Formentera Lady' starts of slowly with a bowed bass, flute, piano and chimes and a first beautiful theme, alternating with a second theme over a funky ostinato bass line, that will later on be elaborated by guitar, mellotron, a sax solo and soprano vocallizes blending into....

'Sailor's Tale', a syncopated up-tempo Jazz instrumental with flute and sax , giving way to a slower heavy funk rhythm change over which Fripp plays thrashing razor blade chords and a threatening mellotron .

'The Letters' starts with a delicate guitar, a mournful melody, before the brass section and distorted guitar come crashing in, followed by a baritone sax solo and a second part with angry desperate vocals ponctuated by the guitar and an A Capella outro.

'Ladies Of The Road' starts a as a slow blues with guitar and tambourine, followed by a howling tenor sax and heavy drums until the chorus gives place to a Beatles like Barbershop vocal arrangement and a sax solo.

'Gulls' is a classical elegy for strings and oboe, a sweet melody played by the oboe over pizzicato strings, a track that does not really fit in the overall athmosphere and which is far too long.

'Islands' the title song presents a perfect balance of lyrics and music a masterpice of Fripp and Sinfield. A beautiful melody accompagnated by piano and flute and leaving place to a second theme played by cornet and a harmonium and then by mellotron and oboe. All the second half of the long track functions as a long outro over a distant and discret rhythm a cornet solo, harmonium and mellotron chords fading slowly out, a masterpiece of chamber rock.

'Islands' is a Prog masterpiece and the achievement of the first King Crimson period.

After the chaotic disarray of lineups in King Crimson, Robert Fripp tried one more time to keep a band together for more than one album. The result was Islands (and the live counterpart Earthbound). Now, the album is a mixture of softer jazz pieces and bombastic mellotron infused fusion of heavy guitar and manic drumming. I often see this album (and Lizard) as the most looked over albums in the King Crimson catalogue, and I can see why. They aren't terribly strong, but they aren't bad either. Robert Fripp tries his best on this album with blocky guitar chords and pseudo leads. Mel Collins keeps the jazzy atmosphere alive with varied horns and reed instruments. Boz Burrell tries on bass and vocal, but comes up a little bit short in both departments, and Ian Wallace gives dynamic and varied performances for each track.

Formentera Lady opens this album rather slowly, with a winding buildup of gentle guitars, washes of saxophone, mediocre bass (and almost inaudible vocals), and subdued drumming. Even though the track is 10 minutes, it could have used some editing and some more refinement. Sailor's Tale is a slow buildup instrumental, with some nice mellotron sections that peak with some punchy, melodic drumming. It starts out a bit slow, but soon shows some promise. The Letters is the last song on the first side of this album. It's a bit of a saxophone led piece, with some manic drumming from Wallace. There's a bit of a feel of chaos here that only gets surpassed on later works like Larks' Tongue in Aspic. Boz's vocal here is once again very hard to hear, and even when you can hear it, it isn't terribly great.

Ladies of the Road opens the second side of the album with some very compressed vocal from Boz and some emotional leads from Fripp. A steady beat is kept via the tambourine for the most part. Slowly but surely, more instruments come in and out and the piece evolves and buildups quite nicely. One of the better tracks on the album. Prelude: Song of the Gulls is a gentle flute/mellotron led instrumental track. It has a classical feel to it mainly because of a psuedo string arrangement in the background. The only real problem is that the song doesn't really evolve, so it's this tedious arrangement for about four and a half minutes. Islands closes with the title track, clocking in at 11:52. A pretty piano motif is the showcase for about 2 and a half minutes. Some gentle saxophone slowly builds up as the track progresses into a newer direction. This is one of the most mellow tracks King Crimson has ever produced, with great Harmonium work from Fripp, as well as a stunning cornet solo in the second half.

In the end, this album is stylistically different that King Crimson created or were about to create. The next album, Larks' Tongue in Aspic, was a drastically different in that it had a harder, more experimental edge. Personally, Islands is a good album, but it's not the album that everyone cracks it up to be. It could have used a bit more refinement in songs like Formentera Lady and The Sailor's Tale. But otherwise, it's an interesting album that fans of King Crimson and gentle jazz-based symphonic music will enjoy. 3.5/5.

Here comes the most controversial album in King Crimson's history, their fourth : Islands. At a time when the band was still going through lots of problems of personnal changes and when long-time member and writer Pete Sinfield and guitarist and leader Robert Fripp were at war, this album was bound to be different and controversial. I understand how people believes it to be different but I just can't get why it is a controversial album. I think it's a great effort and yet another unique gem in their repertoire.

Islands is really mellow and smooth throughout, possibly one of the reason why some hard-rockers don't like it. From the flute intro of Formentera Lady to the beautiful ending of the title track, this album has an atmosphere no other King Crimson album has. I can easily picture myself lying on a beach on a deserted island or on a little boat in the middle of a calm ocean while listening to it.

Unlike many who say Boz Burrell has an awful voice, I think his voice matches the music perfectly. His work is really appropriate. However, one of the few flaws I can find in this album is his bass playing. It is closer to mediocre than bad. The bassline in Formentera Lady for example is so dull that it makes it my least favorite song on the album. If it had been for a better player, this album would have been even better overall.

All of the songs are pretty good but I must give a special mention to both Prelude : Song of the gulls and Islands. The first one is a one of a kind in King Crimson catalogue and it displays Fripp hability to work with many different musical styles. Here, we have a beautiful classical piece with great string arrangements. This contributes to make this album so smooth and even soothing throughout. Prelude soon fades in the title track of the record : Islands. It's an extended piece of yet again beautiful music with great vocals and playing.

Overall, this album is excellent. The only flaw, which is sadly major and though to get over, is the bass playing of Boz Burrell. Fripp should have hired a full-time bass player instead of teaching a singer to play bass in two weeks. 4 stars for this great effort by King Crimson nonetheless.

Sincerely,

-Bern

This obscure Crimson Lp is often discredited because it was recorded during a 'lost' period for the band. But there is a very special thing about this album - it doesn't sound like anything before or after.

Frankly, it sounds like a few unemployed jazz musicians in an opium den.

A couple spurts of artistry do stand as refreshing changes from already-tread territory. The instrumental jam "Sailor's Tale" carries an enchanting electric guitar show by Fripp. He begins with an exotic riff then shifts to loud and distorted. Drummer Ian Wallace keeps it all sewn together with a really cool jazz beat (Phil Collins would mention this as an influence). "Sailor's Tale" then trails off via mellotron, which is uniquely overlaid onto Wallace's jazz rhythm.

Side two's "Ladies of the Road" is a brief return to the cool jazz beat. But this is a weird song: lounge-lizard and very austere. It contains some disturbingly raunchy lyrics. In fact I'm not sure why anybody would want a song to sound like this. But that cool beat keeps it interesting.

Islands closes with two authentic sounding, pseudo-classical pieces. Symphonic freaks deem them to be beautiful and, indeed, these tracks ("Prelude." and "Islands") sound more sincere than anything Yes ever recorded with Rick Wakeman. But they are sleepy.

Whether or not Islands is essential depends on one's tolerance for the weird. The follow-up Lp, Lark's Tongues in Aspic, sounds like Top-40 in comparison to this.

I dont know why this crimson album got such a low rating, I really dont.

I think that Islands is a uniq and diffrent crimson's album, becuase all the bands member was replaced with newOnes(fripp wasn't of course)- poor fripp fired all the members after this album, an act that I thing is wrong, cus I like very much this LineUp...

Anyway this album had 6 songs:

1) Formentera Lady- a doleful start to that album, start with chello and a beautifull piano works, and "Boz" singing match perfectly with the music, in the ending of the song, there is a very good sax solo by collins- collins's play in this album just extraordinary. I will give this song: 4.5.

2)Sailor's Tale- start with an unuseal tempo, and then fripp and collins join with waining notes, that make very good impression. after the start come one of the best guitar's solos in progrock history!, amazing, uniq solo by fripp- wow!. fripp work at this song due with guitar and due with the mellotron are very very good. great song: 5 stars!.

3)The Letters-a very theatrical and melodramatic song, like a movie, Boz singing is just fine, and Sinfield words are good too. I think that in that song there is the best sax solo in the entire album, when fripp guitar wine with the woman cry and after that collins join in with the sax-shivering!. 5 stars too.

4)Ladies Of The Road- weill I think this the worst song in the album, thought he is still good, but attitude to the album he is not very good... this like an werid RandB song, with fripp touch. fripp guitar solo is just pitiful- fripp dont know to do a blus solo.(sorrey fripp). collins sax blus solo is a lot more better then fripp solo. nice song:4.0 stars.

5) Prelude: Song Of The Gulls- in this song its visible to understand that crimson try to do something there not good at it, a touching, easy song, I dont like very much this song, he is very intresting. 3.5 stars

6) Islands- a beautifull song for the first times, after the first times he comes a little boared. collins and Boz work are very good in this song. that song is very exciting at first times, but after couple of hearings it becomes chisy. 4 stars.

I love this crimson album, its a pity that songs 3) and 4) are not so good like the others, but very uniq album, with a lot of exiting and intersting crimson's moments.

I've been looking at this album in shops for almost a year now, trying to decide whether I should buy it or not. A couple of weeks ago, despite all the mixed reviews I read I finally bought it, and I must say I was pleasantly surprised! Granted, I didn't "get it" right off the bat, in fact, I almost cursed myself for buying it, but after giving it a second chance I finally discovered the genious behind the works!

This is likely Crimson's hardest album to get into, and for that reason it gets bashed a lot (like Floyd's "Animals" album). This happens because A) it's mellower than the first 3 crimson albums, B) Boz is on vocals and C) people expect something ballsier. All that aside, if you discard everything you know about King Crimson and listen to this album with a completely open mind you'll find it's quite the experience.

Formentera Lady - The opening track is nothing like "21st Century Schizoid man", but that doesn't mean it should be dismissed as bad. This is a brilliant, mellow, 10 minute long track that really has a lot of offer if you listen to it just right. This song has quickly become a Crimson Favorite for me.

The Salior's Tale - A nice, heavy instrumental that would later give way to works like Larks' Tongues in Aspic. It opens nicely, progresses nicely and finishes nicely. This song should catch your interest even if you don't like mellow albums.

The Letters - Actually a fairly dark, eerie track reminicent of Epitaph from "...Court Of The Crimson King". This one flows right out of Sailor's Tale and take the smae musical direction, a bit mellower, but still pretty dark.

Ladies Of The Road - Quite the track. Opens up side 2 with a bang if I do say so myself. A bit quiet in some parts, but hey, no complaints here.

Song Of The Gulls - This (dare I say) pretty song opens up the title track of the album. This is a great song to get lost in, and it's a great beginning to the title track.

Islands - This song is the epitome of the album itself. Everything this album stands for is in this track. It's a mellow, melodic track that is easy to keep pace to and once again, easy to lose yourself in. This, however, cannot be listened to like The debut's title track which was cataclysmic, powerful and raw (as much as Crimson can be). Instead, Islands should be taken in stride, this is a song you can get lost in instead of trying to run from it in the fear that it will and can eat you.

Again, people just need to give this album a second chance without expecting an album like "in The Court Of The Crimson King". This is a great piece of work and it's too bad many people simply toss it aside.

Of all the KC albums I have heard (note that I have yet to listen to their 80's trilogy), 'Islands' is my least favorite. Truth be told, this line-up just didn't work together. How Fripp accepted to even release this album after three amazing records is beyond me. The first three songs I find to be plain boring, definitely nothing to write home about, while the last three songs are much better. 'Ladies of the Road' has a Beatlesque approach to it (especially the vocals in the chorus) and Prelude : Song of the Gulls and Islands are beautiful pieces of classic inspired music. Very good melodies and well written songs.

Half a good album is not much, especially from the Crimson King. Good thing the line-up changed for Lark's Tongues, with which Fripp came back from the nether.

Not completely bad, but in my opinion, not essential.

All the imperfectives and technical misses from Lizard album are fixed on this one. This one was more mature and this "critical" lineup of the band made a truly masterpiece. Fripp plays guitar more and nicer and here we have roots of their sound of "Red" album era. Every King Crimson album is unique and artistic picture of world they see through eyes of brilliant musicians with strong feeling for emotion of moment and colors of sound. This piece can be studied in courses on history of classical musical flavor. These are not copying of classical masters of music, this is something else, music that is sophisticated enough to be close to classical music in terms of composition structure. This is great example of the fact that freedom in music can create beauty that is source of inspiration for people's living. It is funny, but when I first listened to this piece, it made me physically ill. I was a bit hungry, and listening this, I got dizzy in my head. So, any of listeners should not give up this album after first few hours. I want also to remind everybody that lyrics on album were written by real (will not say professional) poet, and this is poetry in music, something very unique, because listening to classical masters of music, I hear beating of their living hearts, but I could not enjoy poetry. Anyone who listens to song "Islands" will know what I mean. I recommend this highly to any art lovers. This is pretty much "noble" record in many senses of this word.

.and music of King Crimson made my life less sad and more beautiful. I guess that this is all about.

Regratably i must say that thy album is very uninspired, i´ve tried many times to hear it, digest it and enjoy it, but is impossible, it makes me sleep, completely uninteresting, where is the nice groundbreaking musical tech of KC? I bet the drugs made a negative effect on the production. But there is a nice track on it: Sailors Tale, very nice 3/4 compass and progressive rythm.

Islands is the weakest album in King Crimson's early output. I've given this album a lot of time, but it won't blossom.

There are six tracks on this album, and even if none of them is really bad, none of them is anything special either. The album opens with "Formentera Lady", which is way too long for its material. The song uses a lot of pentatonic scale, which sounds a bit infantile. The next track, "Sailor's Tale", is the best on the album. In "Ladies Of The Road" Peter Sinfield tells us how rock stars score with women... the song is a bastard child of The Beatles's "Michelle" and "Come Together" - I wonder if the Crimson members noticed this when they wrote the track...

"Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" is a beautiful little piece with strings and oboe. Typically among rock musicians, in its beauty this is terribly banal, much in the way of other similar stuff like Deep Purple's Concerto For Group And Orchestra. The last track, "Islands" shows a nice trumpet, but offers very little compared with a few of Crimson's early masterpieces.

What I find really annoying is that King Crimson adds mindless noise to the end of a few of their songs. It has no musical substance whatsoever, and I can't think of why they do this, because the tracks are already long enough without it.

islands is quite a trip to another place. A strange place not quite any other place crimson has taken us. A dark, mysterious place. This is a highly classically influenced album, which is good, imho. The intro to formentera lady is deep and brooding, with some sinister cello sounds. Soon come the flute and bells to sweep you right in and never let you leave! Boz does a goos vocal job on this song, as well as the rest of the album. However, his basslaying ability, as many of you already know, is weak. His lines are simple, but they do cut it. They don't impress, but all in all, they don't distract you from the rest of the greatness going on. Track 2, sailors tail brings in the expirimental jazz feel, with some good guitar work by fripp. Overall, very good. This is where boz's bass sounds the best to me, probaly because he isn't singing. Good piece. Next is my personal favorite, the letters. It sound very sinister. Boz's vocals really stand out here! The quiet intro is soon interupted by loud saxophone sounds, similar to pictures of a city on poseidon. We also get a 'spray' of percusion, which soon entirely dicipates into nothing, but a quiet saxophone. Soon we get another 'explosion', vocal in nature, with a heavy dose of dramaticism. Then the song goes kind of jazz style, but remains consistent. No matter how you break this one down, it remains consistent. Ha ha(discipline t4). Any way, good song. Then comes ladies of the road, which is about groupies. This is a catchy tune with some cool vocal harmonies. It is also loud and obnoxious in that trademark crimson way that we all love. A good tune. Next we have the most beautiful crimson tune of all time, with only exiles and cadence and cascade as worthy contenders. This song is pure classical music and accordingly, pure excellence. I do think it is the softest, most beautiful crimson song ever, and I've heard almost all of their work. Next comes the mysterious islands. This song opens with some mysterious, dreamy lyrics and classical sounds. The great thing about this song is that it steadily builds and becomes 'warmer' and a little loude, with some nice trumpet work that really adds to the song. Eventually, it goes silent, only to have some studio sound and people talking come in, as if a rehearsal is going on. Then you hear a countdown 1, 2, 3 and just when you think something is going to happen, the album ends, leaving you to wonder what they were about to play. imho, this is a brilliant ending. It leaves you feeling something, like melancholia. This album really takes you places. I just can't quite give it a 5, because it's a little soft for crimson standards. Crimson fans need this one.

This is from what is usually seen as King Crimson's "dodgy" period. After their successful first album they seemed lost for ideas, so just made their first album again. Then there was the over-wacky and incoherent "Lizard". Out of all these early albums, "Islands" is the most chilled and hippyish. Their tendencies for random improvisation are mostly restrained here, so it's listenable, if not very inspired.

"Formentera Lady" is based on a simple undulating tune, with piano and woodwinds weaving in and out. "Sailor's Tale" is a fairly decent twelve-minute instrumental jam, which starts serenely by playing around with the "Formentera Lady" tune. In the middle they again return to re-hashing the spiky rhythms of "21st Century Schizoid Man", but it soon gets more exciting towards the end with some relentless drumming from Ian Wallace and Fripp's mellotron and guitar work.

The sleazy groupie-pulling song "Ladies of the Road" has a good John Lennon-style bluesy tune, but we could do without Pete Sinfield's bizarre "sex" lyrics. I mean, who sings about "suspenders" these days! It even has that obvious "raunchy" distorted sax sound over the words "I smiled and just unzipped her". "Prelude - Song of the Gulls" is a simple classical instrumental, in the style that Penguin Cafe Orchestra would eventually do much better. It would get good marks as a composition for a school music exam, but sounds out of place here.

The album ends as it began, in mellow fashion, with the title track. This pleasing, romantic tune is decorated simply with woodwinds and piano. Eventually the whole band joins in gradually, over a cornet solo, and it just floats serenely away.

definately an underrated album , fans of the " king " must own this. i agree it's not the best and the ideas are not at peak , but what about the good moments! this cd has them, track no. 2 is one of the best tracks in the crimson history , it has the most original guitar solo iv'e heard in my life, so cool!! another thing is boz ( the singer ) vocals are perfect! he blends in the atmosphere so well. another highlight for me is the last track , so gentle and beautiful outstanding horn through out the track! in general the album is on the mellow side and has its good moments, not for starters like i said its not the best but for those pure crimson moments i cant but give this one less then 4.5 STARS!!

"Islands" stands as a controversial album and the first serious sign of the band's crisis. Boz Burrell was not the best replacement of Haskell and Lake and it is obvious his vocals did not fit into the music. Musically, there are several uninspired, boring and dull moments, especially "Letters" and the rediculously long title track, which I could never really stand to finish listening. "Ladies of the Road" tries to sound as pop as CRIMSON would allow and is the most accessable song on the album. On the other hand, "Formentera Lady" with beautiful double bass and female vocals paired with frenzy guitar of "Sailor's Tale" are amazing moments and could easily rank among the band's best. On top of this, "Song of the Seagulls" is a gentle classical music piece with strings and horns, faraway from any "prog rock" instruments and sounding like it just fell down from another world. Summa sumarum, "Islands" is not an essential record by any means, still it has enough good moments to be recommended.

The Calm before the Storm.

First things first. This isn't a bad album, but it is however, Crimson at their softest, most gentile, and least edgy. The title track is still quite good, as well as the brass play in The Letters, however, the vocals are at their most plain.

The lineup problems didn't particularly hamper the creativity of Fripp and Co., but just changed much of the bands style. Out of all the KC records, this one stands out as being one of the most different because it wasn't off the wall crazy. The jazzy sections are intriguing and neat, but at this point hardly revolutionary. Their is much classical representation and a variety of instruments used to varying effect. Islands is a somber track with some very nice, if not depressing melodies.

If ever there were a progressive KC album (excuse the 80's albums) that someone should get into without much of the edgier feel that is found on almost all their works, one should take a look at Islands. The vocals are not near as creative or inspiring as other KC vocalists, but the music is very soothing and pleasant. It still makes for a quality record.

This Album is grossly misunderstood the number of people that want 'Prog' bands to repeat themselves over and over is astounding the whole idea of prog is to evolve and change to try new and diferent things.

On Islands Fripp and Co do just this from classical to almost beatles like but always inventive and interesting. For instance the Sailor's Tale is Neo Jazz Prog like no other. The letters is a most Beautifuly sad bit of music angular in feel, i cant think of any other song that even comes close to conveying the emotion this does, when listening to this song you can feel who the lady in the song feeling and understand the outcome.

Formentera Lady is long but i think with reason it builds up with the wailing vocal line and blends straight into Sailors tale, one way to look at it is the first two songs are one and complement each other well.

A song about groupies who would have ever thought KC would ever go there, this is the arena for slade and other pop acts, but Ladies of the Road put a new spin on an old subject.

Song of the Gulls Is a beautifull little bit of work from fripp here soulfull and grand, as much classical as it is prog.

Islands what can i say well written song Robert and Peter did well. At the end of the album when we can hear the group of muscians tuning and fripp says "Now what were going to do, do it twice more once with the oboe once with out it and then we're finished for the evening" If only they let us hear the the other two takes.

For my money there was never a bad King Crimson Album but this one does stand on its own with no trouble at all.....

One more disappointing from the King. 2 great tunes, though - Sailor's Tale & Ladies of the Road, but not enough to carry an album. Sailor's Tale recalls a bit of the instrumental passages in Schizoid Man, & Ladies seems like KC's version of off-kilter jazz. Some have mentioned Burrell's bass playing as being part of the problem, but I found that his bass lines on these two songs , at least, fit in well. The best part though, is that after going off a little on Lizards & Islands, King Crimson would go on to what is generally considered one of their "classic" periods.

Gordon Haskell has left the band so Boz Burrell is brought in to sing and play bass (which he just learned). This would be Peter Sinfeld's last album with the band. Ian Wallace is on drums and Mel Collins takes care of the flute and sax. Keith Tippet guests on piano and Mark Charig on cornet. Man this one surprised me but then again maybe it sets up the next album to some degree with how experimental it is. I have to give Fripp credit for trying different things and always pushing the envelope. He was a trail blazer no doubt about it.

"Formentera Lady" is experimental sounding with violin, piano and flute coming and going. Not really any sort of melody happening here. Lots of great ideas though. Drums come in around the 3 minute mark changing the sound somewhat. Some good sax late in the song as well as a great vocal melody from a lady named Paulina. "Sailor's Tale" is my favourite. Kind of jazzy sounding. The drums pound away crisply as Fripp plays along. Mellotron comes in as drums speed up creating a fuller sound. Just one glorious track. "The Letters" is reserved with vocals, until a heavy soundscape arrives briefly. There is a sax solo followed by some experimental sounds. Nasty stuff and i love it.

"Ladies Of The Road' features provocative lyrics, an explosive sax solo, and a BEATLES-like melody that comes after 2 minutes. More amazing sax and mellotron later as well. "Prelude-Song Of The Gulls" is an instrumental with some orchestration and beautiful aboe melodies. Gorgeous track. "Islands" is almost 12 minutes long. Vocals, piano, flute and a melancholic sax solo before mellotron comes in as the song seems to wake up a bit after 7 minutes.

You know Mel Collins seems to be the main focus on this record even more than he was on the "Lizard" record. That would change on the next one "Larks' Tongues In Aspic".

Edit(July 2011) : I've bumped this up to 4 stars. I read recently where this man who bought this when it came out still finds things he didn't hear earlier on.This after 40 years. Well I couldn't agree more. I've grown to love this album and rate it 4.5 stars.

I love the whole period of 70s of King Crimson but this disc, although it does not waste skill as others, it thrills me today as 30 years ago. The details and the dark climate demand an extreme attention to savor them and he is a precursor of the wave of gothic-dark- progressive into which there have occurred many bands that began in the extreme metal. The electricity of the guitar in Sailors tells it gives him a tone different from a disc dominated by acoustics in the keyboards and the delicacy in the wonderful work of winds. The susurrante voice of Boz recites the saddest lettering of Sinfield. The depression was never so beautiful!

KC fourth album within two years...This band brings me either pure joy or pure boredom. This album will not be different than the others since both feelings prevail as well here.

The long opener "Formentera Lady" is a dull song (?), with no rythm nor flavour. Here and there some nice piano touch but globally it is boring to death. Sounds avant- garde / improv all the way through.

"Sailor's Tale" is pure jazz-rock essay in its first part. The second half though is far much better : mellotron comes in and the drumming is great. The finale is quite hectic and incoherent again.

To hear a bit of the intro from "The Letters", you have to turn your volume at the maximum. After 1'30", the cacophony wakes you up for about two minutes. Mel is then playing some good sax with a structureless backing band. The insipid vocal section at the end won't do much to save this track from misery I'm afraid.

"Ladies of the Road" is a jazz rock-opera on his own : mellow moments, tempo changes and good sax playing : not too bad a song but not very accessible for non KC fans.

"Prelude Song of the Gulls" is a very symphonic and wonderful track : by far the most melodious and bearable of the album (more in the vein of "In The Court"). Very nice break in this overall chaos and my preferred song here by far. Almost classical and peaceful music. Rather different from KC standards (that's probably why I like it).

The closing and longest number is also a good one : it starts promisingly with a good vocal and quiet intro. The overall ambience is really (too) soft (very much "Moonchild" oriented) and melodious.

I guess this song is perfect when you go to bed at night to fall asleep. The last four minutes are quite nice and symphonic and builts a bit crescendo (time to wake up) for about two minutes. Then you get a blank (for about a minute) then some noises for another minute. This song should have ended after 9'15" : it would have been a great one.

So, here and there some good (but no great) moments on this album, but too scarce. Mel Collins does an overall great job and increase the quality level substantially. Two stars.

DEPRESSION MADE BEAUTIFUL!!

This is an album which has a few detractors. Some reviewers think it has a lot of dull songs, others see it as a masterpiece. This is a very sad, depressing and melancholic album. King Crimson was never known for its ''Joie de Vivre'' anyway, but sure they went on Prozac on this one.

There is another element adding to this gloom is the fact that today ,year 2007, 2 of the 4 musicians implicated in the recording on this album just passed away months apart. King CRIMSON once again has a new line-up with the arrivals of IAN WALLACE behind the drums and BOZ BURELL (later of Bad Company fame) on bass and Vocals. Sadly, they left us both of them a few months ago. So it doesn't help now to elevate your mood when you listen to ISLANDS.

This is a very peaceful album, maybe too much for some , you can listen for example to the title track like a funeral procession march. It is that uplifting!! but if you love melancholic melodies, you are served greatly with ISLANDS. There are not too many ''crazy'' moments like on the first 3 albums, just a little bit on ''the letters '' where MEL COLLINS tries to have some fun, at least a little bit.

The hard- edged side that makes King Crimson unique is not present on this album, the most ''dynamic'' track being ''Ladies of the Road'' with its Beatles-esque vocals. We even have a beautiful piece of complete classical music ''Song of the Gulls'' which is a real treat.

I understand not everyone can enjoy this albumm but i do.It's beautiful sound to my ears.

4 stars well deserved Thanks to IAN W. and BOZ B. for the memories.

'Islands' is mostly underappreciated as it is quite removed from all other schemes by KC. It has a strange line-up and the compositions do not fit to the rest of KC's repertoire. But after a hundredth listening, it all becomes clear and every song falls into line. Oddly enough, my favourite is 'Song Of The Gulls', which is an istrumental part played by strings and woodwinds that sounds neo-romantic. But 11-minute 'Islands' is a nice exemple of space rock. 'The Sailor's Tale' has one of the best of Fripp's guitar parts. 'Ladies Of The Road' is a jazzy tune with interesting lyrics. In overall view, 'Islands' is essential not only as a masterpiece, but also because in its being different it defines the early Crimson.

This album gets too much crap. Yeah, even though it's probably one of the weakest Crimson studio albums, it's still pretty good and a lot better than some other bands at their best. "Islands" is more influenced by classical music, pretty far-removed from the trippy jazz on "Lizard." "Formetera Lady" is a calm opener that takes it time to fold out. It gets a little superfluous and could have been shortened, but whatever. The instrumental "Sailor's Tale" speeds things up with good guitar work from Robert Fripp and some sweet mellotron action at the end. "The Letters" begins a bit more calm, but the song explodes with sound occasionally. Interesting piece. The album takes a sharp turn with "Ladies Of The Road," a rather poppy and Beatles-esque tune, especially with the vocal harmonies during the chorus. The song has kind of cheesy lyrics about making groups useful, complete with the obligatory "dirty saxophone" that comes off as less than convincing. It's still a good song, despite it's irrelevance to the rest of the album. Things get back to normal with the instrumental "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls." It is a classical piece that's nice, but just feels like filler. The title track closes the album. This is again a calm and emotional piece, rather drawn out like "Formetera Lady." There's a killer cornet solo at the end which serves as a nice climax to the song and ending the album.

Robert Fripp was obviously experimenting with a few ideas here and things weren't going so well. He would soon fire the whole band and reappear in 1973 with a fresh King Crimson with a whole new direction. While "Islands" certainly isn't a bad album, try to listen to other works by King Crimson before getting into this one as it really doesn't do the band's genius justice. If you are more familiar with King Crimson, "Islands" will serve as another reminder that they were always trying to test the limits, but not always with great success.

Standout songs: "Sailor's Tale"

Formentera lady 3 A slow number, heavy on flute and piano, very reminiscent of the firts two records by the band. I like Boz Burrell´s vocals on this one, in fact, they are pretty close to Haskell. The track contains a saxophone solo, that sounds too disturbing when interfering with the main melody. It is also too long for my tastes and the screaming high vocals in this part are both nice and horrible at the same time. However, after more than a minute of it, one gets enough and even the powerful violin playing does not completely save the day. Sailor´s tale 4 After the first track fades in, we get some fine bass playing by Burrell, a powerful brass section and marvelous guitar playing from Fripp and then the sound gets enriched by other instruments again to a loud ( sometimes too noisy) culmination, after which a quiet part follows. The letters 4 The song starts off quietly with subtle singing from Burrell, but soon turns into a loud part driven by saxophone and Fripp´s guitar, after which the track calms down a bit, with Fripp and Collins providing dissonant soloing simultaneously and the song gradually slows down again and the atmosphere from its beginning returns. Toomuch chaos at atimes on here for my tastes and the soloing (while great) may be too hard to digest sometimes. Ladies of the road 5 The start is slow and quiet again, with Frip´s guitar and Burrell´s singing. Then the bass and drums join in, along with a typical solo from Mel Collins. The track gets an unexpected poppy Beatlesque vocal part as well. Fripp gets a fine guitar solo, too. Prelude: Song of the gulls 4 A lovely, melodic instrumental with lots of mellotron. Very calm. Not that great as a whole that one would feel astonished, though. Islands 2.5 Starts of as a ballad with subtle singing from Boz Burrell and subtle backing as well. The whole tune is played in this vane, with no major digressions (except for the typically "weird" ending) and while the melody is okay, it soon gets too sleepy and does not draw that muchattention to itself

Overal rating:22.5:6= 3.7= 4 STARS

EXCELLENT ADDITION TO ANY PROG MUSIC COLLECTION.

King Crimson. What an inventive and influent band! A chamaleon that has always something new to offer, always dressed in a different suite.

So does Island with its experimental-avantguardist feel, so much different from their usual outputs. Very suggestive, strange, "schizoid" if you want with string bass in evidence, sparse sax and repetitive guitar's patterns. The opener "Formentera Lady" is strangely calm. It seems it's going to explode at each second but the sad vocalises alternating with sax go on and on for over 10 minutes. Excellent the contrast between the anguishing music and the mellow sung parts.

"Sailor's Tale" (7,29 mns) is structured in a more traditional Crimso' mood with catchy fast drumming introduction, eletcric guitar and sax. Then some distorted sax and evocative jazzy-avantguard sounds and guitar's noises until a general slowdown thought to give the opportunity to mr. Fripp to play a noisy electric guitar solo. Them finally, some powerful mellotron's eruption come with all its dramatic and gloomy atmosphere.

"The Letters" (4,29 mns) opens with sad sung part. Boz vocals sound good to me. Suddenly, the slow rythm passes on and strong sax sound blended with electric guitar enter the scenes. Then, as suddenly as it came it fades away. A gentle sax solo by Mel Collins becomes schizofrenic again until it stops giving the possibily to Boz' vocals to softly fade out.

"Ladies of the Road" (5,34 mns) is another curious track blending the typical Crimson's sound with a bluesy pattern. It reminds me of Beatles' "Come Together".

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" (4,14 mns) starts off in a more classical suite: string, oboe and flute. A more reassuring music with more than a baroque touch. Well, an excellent break.

With "Islands" (11,51 mns) the album continue the formula of the previous track with only a a touch of sadness more. It's gently introduced by warm vocals and piano part. Then strings again and also cornet, the surprise. Not bad at all. Thanks also to mellotron.

This is one of the most difficult album by mr. Fripp. Generally it's hard to digest for the lack of those typical "exciting interludes". Notwithstanding it stands as one of the most progressive work of the period. Really King Crimson were free to experiment and to put in music their own and most deep ideas. I wonder if it could be possible today.

3,5: different (and difficult to get into) but very good!

You know what? I have NO reviews on KING CRIMSON yet! Unlike others who start to review all Top 100 albums right after registering, I spent these two years on PA without a single KC/PF/YES/ELP/you-continue review. A flaw or a merit? Or a chance to make again?

Here we go. This was my first KC album that I really loved. I listened to them chronologically, but anyway when ITCOTCK, ITWOP and “Lizard” were still “out of my book”, “Islands” already occupied a special place in my heart. I love the whole pastoral nature of the album; when I began to listen to Post-Rock bands, I found many similarities between them and that special KC album. Another obviously influenced band was AFTER CRYING in their early era. To be short, I fell in love with that kind of music and still enjoy it immensely (recent discovery is COMUS’ debut). How can you dare not to love the title track (one of the best from KC) with its magical slow climax nature? What about biting “Ladies of the Road” and tragic “Letters”? And opening mellow “Formentera Lady” has its own special vibe. ”Song of the Gulls” even featured in a Spanish drama movie as the main theme! Underrated and rather obscured comparing to other KC albums, “Islands” has unique mood which I never heard anywhere else (aforementioned bands come close, but not that much). If you consider KC to be a noisy Avant/Math band only, you must try this one – symphonic, pastoral, dark and mellow.

Having lost most of its original members, King Crimson (aka Fripp) decided to battle on with some (relatively) subpar musicians, creating this meandering directionless album. The first three tracks on here sound most aimless at first, with very soft feel, soft vocals, sparse drumming, slow development and a lot of improvisation. But there is incredible beauty to them, the free rhythms, flute flourishes, fripp guitar insanity, musicians interacting over repetitive hypnotic rhythms (think krautrock). "Formentera Lady" especially is very underrated and beautiful, and as someone else mentioned before, After Crying's first album sounds clearly inspired by this side of the record. The second side is more composed, and is far more compact and seemingly thought out, but to me it feels like they just dumped a few odds and ends on it that don't have much to do with each other. "Ladies of the Road" is heavily influenced by late 60s Beatles, with its cliched chorus. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a pleasing classical composition in the style of Elgar, but honestly it has little to do with King Crimson and feels out of place. "Islands" is a piano based tune that is more similar to the first side and is simply gorgeous! It has a very soft feel similar to many jazz artists on ECM, and it features the best cornet solo in prog rock ever! If you want music to carry you away like a dream, then this is album is perfect!

This album is beautiful. Sad, even depressing, but beautiful. No hard riffs, no agressive beat changes, perhaps the less skilled album of the early days, but beautiful. The musicianship is far from their peak, singer and bassist Boz Burrell is not Wetton or Lake, Fripp's guitar is not as dinamic and protagonist as on any other release, because he seemed to take a more atmospheric direction. But despite all that, this album is......... beautiful!!!

Complexity doesn't prevent emotions, as simplicity doesn't prevent efficiency. This album is less complex, but also less accesible. I think that's the reason why it uses to be underrated. The songs are slowly elaborated and require a lot of pacience by the listener. Because of that, people generally find this album quite boring. But don't get scared; just turn on your chimney, get a cigarrete, a glass of wine and a comfortable armchair, and put this album in your CD player... Pay attention to it, fall in love with it and (I hate to sound cheesy:) let your tears fall down.

The experimental side of King Crimson was also onmipresent in every album, but here is at their peak, mostly on the first side. 'Formentera Lady' starts the album slowly and very atmospheric, beginning with vocals and string bass and deriving into an interlude more dinamic and melodic. The second half of the song is mainly driven by weird melodies by soprano Paulina Lucas, until the brasses come up at the end of the song and go on in 'Sailor's Tale', which is a prolongation of the track, but louder. 'The Letters' closes the first side keeping that mindblowing and warm atmosphere, but being Boz Burrell's vocals way more protagonist. In these last moments of the first side maybe you can think "this album is smooth and blaaaaaand", but just listen to the second side.

The fourth track is 'Ladies on the Road', perhaps the most beloved by fans. It has nice bass at the beggining and some Beatle-esque harmonies, then falling into a chorus. The next number is one of my all-time fave Crimson pieces, the beautiful 'Song of the Gulls'. No vocals here, just orchestration and string arrangements. Slow-paced and a simple but lovely melody. Always put me sad, but I love it anyway.

The closing track is a long epic, the longest number of the song. It's also atmospheric, but now with fine piano and Boz' voice. The chords are the same all along the song; Boz stops singing and a mellotron and a trumpet begin to appear subtlely, till the end. A very sad track too, but quite nice. Maybe goes a bit long, but just a minimal bit. A warm album in general, and yeah, fairly bland, but in the good sense ;)

Highly recommended for progheads and ESSENTIAL for KC's fans. Before stop writing this review, I'm gonna consider a couple of additional points: this neglected masterpiece was sandwiched by other two brilliant records more popular than this, but don't be fooled about the musical quality founded on this stuff. Don't dismiss it. And second, this was my first experience with this marvelous band, so you can consider it, since my rating and my words don't share the majority's opinion about this album. But that's it; I love this bunch of songs and see no important differences of musical perfection between this and ITCOTCK or Red. Five stars, from both personal and objetive point of view.

Cosick.

Another symphonic piece of jazzy-rock which is much more approachable and in my opinion more enjoyable than the very complex "Lizard". The songs on "Islands" are a good mix of groovy/airy jams and sweeping mellotron crescendos, with comprehendible melodies and much better vocals than the last time around (although not much when compared to Lake's work on the first two release). The instrumentation on "Islands" is one of the albums highlights, featuring delicate flute work throughout the opening track, sleazy sax solos here and there, and textural string/woodwinds for a nice added touch; the trumpet player, however, lets out one too many clams to fully max the symphonic appeal of this album. Fripp himself stoops to playing an occasional solo as well, giving a memorable touch to a unique album in a unique band's lineup. They never did anything quite like this again, and after listening I think you'll agree it was a smart move, but you'll likely find yourself enjoying it none the less.

If you thought Lizard was a departure from the standard KC groove, just wait until you get a listen to Islands. If there was any question that Fripp was going to follow his muse vs. taking the commercial-success road, this one settled it.

Formentera Lady has to be one of the all-time oddest choices for a lead-off track, in any genre. It takes forever to gather steam, though there's eventually a previously unheard Eastern influence displayed, but it seems to be designed as mainly a long, atmospheric intro to Sailors Tale, which is the best song on the album. I can't say enough about Sailor's Tale; it's up there with Crimson's best.

But things go a bit downhill from there. The Letter is unintentionally hilarious due to the absurd lyrics; this is as lame a song as KC has ever recorded. "Impaled on nails of ice." Gimme a break! Ladies of the Road is a lascivious take on the groupie scene, with Revolver-era Beatle-esque horns, and is a decent enough cut. Prelude is almost Baroque and is beautiful, but it's more like an intermission piece than anything substantial. The title track is also very good, but never really goes anywhere.

Given the jazz influence, this is a decent follow up to Lizard, and it's well worth a listen, but KC listeners at the time were used to albums being coherent wholes. This is more like a collection of out-takes. But some fans, myself included, eventually come to view this as a damn near essential addition to any KC collection, though Sailors Tale is the only must-have track.

For some reason, I had thought I had the complete King Crimson studio discography, for which I had always thought that it was funny that I saved the best for last, since In the Court of the Crimson King was my last King Crimson purchase. I decided to prepare reviews for King Crimson's studio albums on a chronological order and it turned out that I didn't have Islands. I have remedied that situation and I am now the proud owner of a 30th Anniversary addition of King Crimson's 4th album, Islands. It is their 4th album with their 4th lineup. Boz Burrell is now the singer and Ian Wallace is now the drummer. This would be the last album in which Peter Sinfield would contribute the words to their albums. A good change for me because I have never been too fond of his abstract lyrics.

The first track, Formentera Lady is a jazz rock song with a bit of a Latin feel to it. Instrumentally, it is a melodic piece featuring Keith Tippett (I think) on piano and Mel Collins on flute and starts out with what I believe is Peter Sinfield on violin. It is a good song. My one complaint which might appeal to some but didn't appeal to me is the use of Paulina Lucas as a soprano wailing like a banshee through the last portion of the song. I suppose that this could possibly have been the inspiration to Pink Floyd's The Great Gig in the Sky, which is my only must skip tune from the Dark Side of the Moon.

The second track, Sailor's Tale, is an excellent instrumental featuring some superb drum work by Ian Wallace and capable bass playing by Boz Burrell. There is also some nice saxophone playing along the way by Mel Collins. Robert Fripp's guitar and mellotron playing are OK but kind of distract from the rest of the playing.

The third track, The Letters, starts out as an acoustic ballad with the first two stanzas until Mel Collins interrupts with some heavy metal saxophones. After this saxophone interlude Boz Burrell comes back to sing the last two stanzas with the final stanza being unaccompanied by instruments. This song tells the story of a man's mistress revealing their affair to the man's wife via a letter. The wife then responds with a letter in which it appears that she might have killed herself out of the despair of finding out that her husband was cheating on her.

The fourth track, Ladies on the Road, is the heaviest track of this album with some of its roots probably coming from a track like Cat Food from their previous output. The chorus borrows from the Beatles sound. The song is a track about groupies and sex on the road. There is a very nice bass and drum rhythm line throughout the track. The first two stanzas are accompanied by Robert Fripp playing a mellow blues line, and then Mel Collins kicks in some heavy saxophones. The track ends with a nice saxophone and blues guitar jam.

The fifth track, Prelude: Sound of the Gulls, is a beautiful classical music based instrumental track.

The final track is the title song Islands. It is a mellow piece featuring Boz on vocals only accompanied by Keith Tippett (again I think it is him) on Piano, and Robert Fripp on the mellotron. After the first two verses, Mel Collins comes in with some saxophone. The last 4 or 5 minutes is instrumental featuring piano and saxophone with some mellow percussion accompaniment.

This is a good album, but not essential. Robert Fripp's guitar playing is largely absent from this album, and Mel Collins seems to be the featured musician on sax and flute. This is a much mellower album than any other in King Crimson's discography. Following this album, the entire band would be gone, and Robert Fripp's next KC output would add two of the classic Crimson lineup with John Wetton and Bill Bruford along for Larks' Tongue in Aspic.

Islands marks a huge transition in mindset and texture from the preceding masterpiece (Lizard) produced by the band. Stylistic differences and difference in musical directions from Mr. Fripp aside, the fact that Burrell, Wallace and Collins all quit together after the supporting tour and the fact that Sinfield's contributions would no longer be felt after this record (as he was reportedly fired) point most strikingly to and tend to lead to a sneaking suspicion and hypothesis that the key player might be suffering from some form of a personality disorder or from irrepressible egomania. It really is hard to fathom how such a such a huge number of very highly accomplished and talented musicians over the strikingly short time period from 1969 through 1972 found Fripp so hard to work with or impossible to work with. Fripp's musicianship and creative genius are certainly not in dispute here, but one does get the sense that even as a schoolboy, the man may have received a failing grade in terms of "playing nicely with others". If my perceptions here are errant, then I suppose I owe Mr. Fripp an apology. On an artistic level, I have nothing but the deepest respect for the man's dedication to art over his long and varied career. Not ever having had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fripp personally, and not having been physically present as "a fly on the wall" during the turmoil of those years, I really cannot comment any further on the personal/social dynamic without speculation. So, I'll lay it to rest and let others with more direct knowledge of these matters tell their tales. Having gotten that off my chest, let's have a go at this recording with which, from the perspective of listener, I can comment from a level of understanding beyond that of speculation. With his band in positive shambles with departure of singer and longtime friend Gordon Haskell, Fripp found a relatively unknown singer named Boz Burrell. Pleasant enough voice, though nasal and at times a bit thin. No bass player...... hmmm.... no problem, Fripp teaches Boz Burrell the rudiments of how to play bass guitar. He certainly didn't make him a virtuoso, but he actually taught the man how to play the instrument at a level that was passable for the recording of a release on a major label.... incredible. Mel Collins stays on for flute and saxophone work, Ian Wallace on drums, Sinfield has his swansong on this album as lyricist and light show operator and the Keith Tippett Group is back for more jazzy touches, but with considerably more restraint or constriction as compared with the previous effort. Formentera Lady is a pretty poetic song handled aptly by Boz's fragile voice. There is a pretty flute line by Collins but this is not his most dynamic or best work. The song moves in a lazy and slow fashion once would expect if lying somewhere in the tropics. The name of the piece tends to evoke an image of Brazil, though the music isn't remotely Brazilian melodically or rhythmically. Next comes a Sailor's Tale, an instrumental epic with some nifty guitar work by Fripp, some very unique saxophone play by Collins and rhythm work, particularly by Wallace on drums. The mellotron adds to the drama. The Letters is a sad little tune sung with tremendous effect by Boz, with a tremendous instrumental break in the middle featuring Collin's wild saxophone. Boz returns to ends the sung vocally with a dramatic flare that are surprisingly striking. Ladies of the Road is a colorful little song about groupies, replete with a funky/jazzy feel and some raucous vocals by Burrell. Collin's sax shines and Fripps guitar contributions are magical. Song of the Gulls is a pretty little instrumental, classically inspired piece that demonstrates a lot of capable but not particularly inspired play by the parties involved. Not exactly the material to write home about. Islands completes our voyage with a beautiful opening melody, flute, piano, sax and horn work. It is extremely tasteful music without the harsh, aggressive edge found in a lot of other Crimson material, and this statement is not a value judgement.... it is different from virtually everything else they did, and for that alone, in appraising the musical capabilities and atmospheres that this band could create, it is well worth the listen. Masterpiece? No. Certainly, however, not a lemon. This record has been underrespected for years, but a realistic assessment puts it somewhere in the realm of hovering around 4 stars.

This is a calm, sort of relaxing listen compared to other King crimson albums. When the mood strikes, it is absolutly perfect. There are some missteps on this album, such as the solos on ladies of the road. Overall, this album fits the title. Imagine being on an island. It is calm and relaxing, the breeze ruffles through your hair. Yet, it is somewhat melencholy because you are the only one on the island. You sit back and reminisce about groupies and jealous diabolical love triangles while watching the seagulls.

This album is essentially post-rock before post rock. If you like explosions in the sky, this might be up your ally. That said, this might not appeal to prog fans. It is not technical at all, but rather beautiful. Song of the Gulls actually might qualify as classical music. In other words, many prog fans will find this boring. Pfft! Such a view seems inane to me. In my opinion, if beauty bores you, then your mind is lacking.

This album is the last crimson effort featuring the lyrics of Peter Sinfield. 70's prog lyrics get no better then this, and it is a bloody shame he didn't do more with them. Read them yourself. It is poetry, not mere lyrics. It is dense poetry, to be sure. Allusions, imagery, phonetic elements of poetry, and symbolism are rampant throughout. None of the lame story-telling crap that typifies prog lyrics.

This album is a must have for fans of Crimson, and for anyone who wants a large 70's prog collection. Unlike some other King Crimson albums though, it isn't necessary to have this one to understand where lots of prog comes from.

This is my second favorite King Crimson album after Red, and that is saying a lot considering I prefer music that rocks out (as many later KC albums do). Islands does not rock out; rather, considering the album on a whole, it reminds me more of Canterbury music than any other KC album. Still, I love it; I think it is a nice blend of conceptual ideas, although nothing seems to get resolved, there is a sprawling- like quality about this album that, strangely enough, holds it together. It's highly composed, but not highly played. It's beautiful, and I highly recommend it, but don't expect it to rock out; it's more likely to induce sleep.

King Crimson carying on with best releases ))))) What was really amazing for young proggers like (myself) in the early 70's , when Islands was released , the impact of listening the new classical - jazz - rock fusion in best shape , perfectly crafted tracks , with multi use of different musical instruments (not used often in the early 70' by many bands ) and creating the essential bridge of combinating between different type of music ln perfect acceptable shape . The clever & creative source behind this action Robert Fripp kept the balance in providing the progressive market with stunning excellent works . Between 1969 & 1976 his line-up kept changing , BUT , always to the best of his works . No doubt that this creative source inspired so many giants up till now , not to mention that all musicians are involved one way or another by hundreds of excellent releases in the progressive markets . As far as Islands , it's really enjoyable album and an essential passage between In the Court & Red , So if i tell fellow proggers that i feel like listening to this album every day , believe it , from the Epic the Sailor's Tale to Islands there's no way to skip any track in this work . So ,,,,, I can't give less than 4.5 stars for this perfection , it's really worth it . Best Regards from (( Tracks Toni ...Beirut - Lebanon .))

"Islands" is the fourth full-length studio album by UK progressive rock act King Crimson. The album was released through Island/Atlantic Records in December 1971. It´s the successor to "Lizard" from December 1970. There have been two lineup changes since the predecessor as drummer Andy McCulloch has been replaced by Ian Wallace and bassist/vocalist Gordon Haskell has been replaced by Boz Burrell. "Islands" is the last studio album in phase one of King Crimson´s discography as this incarnation of the band folded acrimoniously in January 1972. It was however decided that the band would fulfill their US touring commitments in February/March 1972, which subsequently resulted in the "Earthbound" live album (released in June 1972). After that Robert Fripp opted to fire everyone and continue with a new lineup.

The reason for the fighting and disagreements between the members of King Crimson during the 1971-1972 period was due to Fripp´s resentment towards some of the other members because of their drug use and very different ideas of the future direction of the music. "Islands" generally suffers from the bad chemistry of the group and it´s a bit of a lacklustre affair compared to the three preceding studio albums from the band. The sexist groupie lyrics and blues rock direction of "Ladies of the Road" are for example completely out of character for King Crimson, and it´s not their finest moment (although the melodic Beatles influenced chorus is quite pleasant and nice, and repeated listens have somewhat softened my opinon on the track). The album opening 10:18 minutes long "Formentera Lady" is not much better with its odd mellow improvised psychedelic sound. It just passes by and seems to go nowhere.

The most interesting songs on the album are "Sailor's Tale" and "The Letters" where King Crimson show some of the things which made them unique. The classical influenced "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" sounds like the soundtrack to a Disney movie and again it´s not King Crimson at their best. The 9:15 minutes long closing title track is as such a pleasant enough listening experience, but the ambient jazzy atmosphere turns the track into sophisticated muzak.

"Islands" features a dark and slightly muddy sounding production job, and it´s not exactly a plus when paired with the generally unremarkable material featured on the album. There is a good reason why "Islands" is almost never mentioned when speaking about King Crimson. It´s simply one of their least accomplished and least interesting albums. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

For the first time in a few years, Crimson sounding too slow to be rock... Boz Burrell almost works, altough some astonishing things like Ladies on the Road realliy rocks! Two big ballads, that really brings a lovely 70´s fellings, but both lacks the additional-Crimson-drop-of- magic that we always expect. In the end, this line-up is neither essential, nor a trash, but clearly shows that somehing is changing. Sinfield was out just after the recording, and the band was completely rearranged for the next LP.

ISLANDS is an exercise in english-70´s-soft-symphonyc rock, and nobody can deny it. Even without 10 minutes improvises or 3 minutes freaky-free style frippish-rock, the album in a good exercise in the Crimson catalogue.

Formentera lady, Islands & Ladies of the Road are Burrel & the band in they´re better shape. Sailor´s Tale & The Letters are Fripp in an uncoditional feelin´ of Crimson-rock.

So...why you should not Try ?

Review 22, Islands, King Crimson, 1971

StarStarStarStarStar

The word for this album is indeed mostly 'relaxed', as many other reviewers have noted with an air of negativity. However, relaxed is not a bad thing. All of the instruments flow in and out of the superb compositions very neatly, creating unusual, edgy and hazy atmospheres and textures, and being generally bizarre and genuinely progressive throughout without actually trying too hard. Another superb effort from Fripp and Crimson, and joint second in my Crimson list. It should be noted that this is as much Mel Collins' album as Fripp's, given how much and how consistently both of them shine throughout.

After another extreme line-up turnover, King Crimson has morphed again. The excellent Andy McCulloch is replaced on drums by the more exotic Ian Wallace (who seems to me a precursor to the inclusion of the bizarre Jamie Muir for Larks' Tongues In Aspic), Gordon Haskell (bass, vocals) is replaced by Boz, whose vocals are slightly more aesthetic and suit the more relaxed atmosphere of the album. While not a great bassist (understandably, given the circumstances), he does hold the fort. The various jazz-men again contribute, and Robert Fripp and Mel Collins (who has certainly improved) remain from the previous line-up. Pete Sinfield throws in strong lyrics throughout, linked together by a vague concept.

Biting strings give way to the opening chaotic flute solos, twisting inter-weaving instruments and swirling Tippet piano. Boz comes in with a haunting, yet undemanding, vocal. A thick bass part and tingling percussion lead into the uplifting 'chorus' section, which is later repeated with some gentle acoustic Fripp additions and an oriental feel, and then into a fairly chaotic section where just about everyone is contributing to the mix. Echoey vocals (including soprano from Paulina Lucas) and a mixture of flute, saxes, Ian Wallace tinglings and oboes sustain the song over a stable, gentle bass part. These various instruments create an ethereal, exotic atmosphere with a very interesting decadent edge, assisted by Pete Sinfield's excellent lyrics. The especial standouts on this track are Ian Wallace with his various percussion ideas and Keith Tippet's piano. A perfect introduction to the album: progressive, yet unimposing, and relaxed, yet both interesting and moving.

Tapping percussion and bass introduce The Sailor's Tale, while a strained sax and strings add an unusual, almost awkward, feel to the beat. You need to listen quite hard to hear the opening of the superb Fripp-Collins duet of doom, with sax and guitar exchanging ideas and textures. In the background, a mellotron slowly throbs while the rhythm section provides another riff and Fripp continues in a chaotic cascade of sounds which I've yet to hear from another guitar, with occasional creaking sounds on the 'tron leading to a powerful Mellotron burst and twisted ideas and the rhythm section getting a little more leeway (that Ian Wallace makes good use of). Fripp ascends into the picture again with another strong solo before the mellotron humming brings the song to its conclusion. Again, something that I initially didn't quite get, but I've grown to love it, and I'm certain that this is essential for any Crimson fan.

The Letters, a rather melodramatic lyrics-driven song, showcases Boz' vocals and developing Fripp gentle acoustics, before launching off dramatically into punchy sax-driven chaos with frantic guitar from Fripp, and a variety of vicious and heavily distorted percussion. After this has moved through chaos and a gentle aftermath, the biting second part with distorted vocals, interesting bass and percussion and weird background flute soloing begins. Superb song.

Ladies Of The Road begins with an individual acoustic and vocals, before thudding drums and bass slide in with a monstrous sax solo. Fripp's acoustics, along with the rest of the musicians, continues to develop throughout the song, emphasised a little by the moments of VCS-3. The harmonies are perfect, and Boz's vocals and lyrics are amusing, mild sexism aside. The concluding instrumental section includes a bit of high electric guitar, a superb sax duet, a walking, effective rhythm section. Nothing out of place, another great song.

The gentle, pastoral Song Of The Gulls is delightful and emotional, with oboe and strings fusing together into a cheerful classical composition with an astral and a rather separated feel. I don't know enough classical music of this kind to really comment with anything except 'I love it'.

Islands begins with Tippet's soft piano supporting a calming vocal and a gentle low flute part, and is very much carried by Tippet throughout, since he is responsible for most of the mood changes. Fripp (on both mellotron and guitar) occasionally turns up alongside Tippet. Mark Charig provides a wonderful cornet solo, while Robin Miller's oboe glides along with the vocals, sustaining the vaguely classical feel of the piece. Subtleties lurk everywhere within the gentle, uplifting piece until the gentle humming end (presumably 'Peter's Pedal Accordion'). I don't know why the end (waiting silently for a minute or two then cutting to the rehearsal room and random noise) doesn't annoy me, as it's the sort of thing that usually would, but I think it has the pleasant effect of bringing me back down to earth after that trip without grating too viciously or launching into another song.

If you love softer music, this album is essential. If you love music that has interesting genuine progressive features without trying too hard, this album is essential. If you love explosive moments, this album is essential. If you have a morbid fascination with unusual 'tron, guitar, percussion and sax parts, this album is essential. If you're a fan of King Crimson, this album is essential. If you want to see some of the proto-phase of Larks' Tongues In Aspic, this album is essential. I'm in all of those categories, and award Islands a fully-merited five-star rating. Not to be overlooked.

Rating: Five Stars

Favourite Track: Can't decide. I love every track on here. If pressed, Islands or Letters.

And there was a beautiful view, but nobody could see, Cause everybody on the island was saying, Look at me! Look at me! (Laurie Anderson)

'Formentera Lady' - Is what happens when you stretch a good tune so far that the elastic snaps, leaving just a construction that conspires to be both stiff and flaccid simultaneously. It seems astonishing that the normally vigilant Fripp had fallen through the huge and creaky trapdoor of Moonchild a second time. Not as soporific as the latter but one of the very few Crimson tracks that I am at pains to concede to the bands detractors, is nothing more than stoned hippy nonsense.

'Sailors Tale' - Shiver me timbers! this is the proverbial bee's reinforced knee-pads to be sure. The late Ian Wallace cooks up a molten percussion broth that is guaranteed to 'stick to yer ribs' while Bluebeard Bob sets sail on a fiery reign of fretboard terror plundering and laying waste to all that musical convention can put in his way. Breathtaking. The sound of conformity being forced to walk the plank.

Very few bands use the Mellotron as imaginatively as Crimson have done, and these 'icy shafts of sunlight' that uncloak the sulpherous interior of Sailor's Tale contributes a glacial diffidence that is both unsentimental and beautiful.

The 'solo' guitar section is quite probably one of Robert Fripp's finest recorded moments, and I am still unsure if the effect he conjures here is achieved by some inspired 'detuning' of his guitar to facilitate these huge and gorgeous resonating chords. The source of the ominous subterranean bass drone at the end I cannot identify, but there is surely no finer equivalent even 37 years later?

'The Letters' - Sinfield's habitually arcane and portentous lyrics may have been the midwife in the tortuous birth of rock's 'Gothic Ballad' as sung here by a clearly uncomfortable Burrell. If Lord Byron had penned a rock opera it may not have been even as overblown as this. Frustratingly, both the melody and accompaniment are very good but this verbiage should really give the Crimson King an even redder face.

'Ladies of the Road' - This is great fun and breathes some new life into that flagging old 'promiscuity' warhorse as perceived by denizens of the backstage debauch. The band seem only too keen to take the mickey out of themselves and even if the marvelous chorus is Chim Chim Cheree lifted straight from 'Mary Poppins' it hardly really matters. Boz Burrell sounds suitably lecherous on the verses and the music mimics very well the dissolution it is attempting to illustrate.

'Prelude - Song of the Gulls' - Comes across as a rather short-handed attempt by the Lower School Fiddle Ensemble to premiere their first composition on Parents Night during a particularly virulent strain of flu. Pleasant enough but incongruously bland and 'safe' for a Crimson experience.

'Islands' - It seems to take a hell of a long time for this song to finally make its point and although sung beautifully and arranged well with careful use of dynamics, timbre and pace, it really should have been at least 5 minutes shorter. As betrayed later on his debut solo album Exposure, Fripp appears unable to resist the overriding temptation to remind us what an incredibly erudite chap he is by including some pointless banter he has with the orchestral players at the end.

I don't want to hear about the cutlery Robert, when you recommend a restaurant to eat.

Like many of the King Crimson albums up until the stylistic leap initiated by Larks Tongues, this record suffers from a maddening inconsistency. Boz Burrell escapes any blame however, as his bass and vocals certainly lend a bit of bluesy grunt to some of Fripp's otherwise dry and cerebral creations. Mel Collins also gets a clean bill of health and let's face it, the man has never emitted a spurious or tasteless note in his life.

Therefore I think the increasing frisson between Fripp and Sinfield may have been the source of some of the shortcomings that manifest themselves on Islands and they were to part company forever soon after.

If only Robert had recruited Jerry Seinfeld instead...

I realy just can't understand why it's considered one of King Crimson's worst albums of gold era. I think all of King Crimson's albums before 1975 are masterpieces! Islands is really beautfull, and it's the most subjective and impressive of them. rang it in my soul About the songs: Just the third one it is not incredible, the others still on my mind like poetry! Gulping my feelings!

This is the last album that I have listened from KING CRIMSON in their best period which is from 1969 to 1974, in my opinion. The Adrian Belew`s King Crimson line-ups have composed and played music which is very different from the band`s music style of their 1969-74 period. Even if "Islands" is considered by many people to be their worst album from the seventies, I still think that this album is by far more interesting than any of the albums that the Belew`s line-ups have released (and I say this even if I have not yet listened to most of the Belew`s line-ups albums, and I think that I`m not going to bother to listen to them anyway). In the eighties, nineties and in the present century, there has been a KING CRIMSON band which is very far in musical style to the original very good Progressive Rock music style that this band had between 1969-74. I still don`t understand why Fripp chose to name the Belew`s line-ups as KING CRIMSON, but that is another history.

I agree with some of the previous reviewers: this is their less interesting album from their 1969-74 period. It is mostly a "tranquility" album with some moments when the music changes to heavy sounds. "Formentera Lady" has very few participations from Boz on bass guitar and Ian Wallace on drums. "Sailor`s Tale" is more heavy with the use of the mellotron, Fripp`s lead guitar and Mel Collins`s sax playing. "Ladies of the Road" is the most "rocker" in this album. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a musical piece played with an uncredited strings section. "Islands" is another relaxed musical piece on which Fripp plays a bit in an Harmonium, and there is a bit of piano playing too.

Maybe the line-up in this album was considered as the less interesting and maybe the worst from the seventies. But Burell, Collins and Walllace were good musicians. Maybe Burrell wasn`t considered as a good bassist in comparison to others that the band had in those years, but his lead vocals are good, sounding similar to Gordon Haskell`s and Greg Lake`s in style. So, him being chosen by Fripp as lead singer was a good decision. I really expected worst things from Boz`s vocals after reading some reviews! Ian Wallace was also a good drummer, more in the style of previous drummers of the band (Michael Giles, Andy McCulloch) than in Bill Bruford`s style. A curious thing about Wallace and Bruford was that Wallace was one of the drummers who replaced Bruford in YES (for only one gig) when Bruford left the band for some weeks to go to the University, in the early days of the band in 1968! It is curious that Brufod replaced Wallace in KING CRIMSON in 1972! Mel Collins was maybe the musician in this line-up who was more close to Fripp`s musical ideas for the band. His participations are very good in general.

In conclusion, this is a good album from the band which was recorded by their most underrated line-up from the seventies, but this album still has some very enjoyable moments. This album also was the last album of the band on which lyricist Peter Sinfield participated. With him out of the band, the music of KING CRIMSON became more heavy in their last years as a band in the seventies.

Probably King Crimson´s weakest release during their Golden Era (I mean, the 70´s). The frequently line up changes from album to album had a price on the final product, I guess. After the jazzy (and brilliant) Lizard, here comes Islands. A good LP, which I heard a lot at the time, but although it has many fine moments, it did not produce any classic stuff. Formentera Lady is the closest any song here came to that. Also there are the beautiful instrumental Prelude: Song Of The Gulls, which I love.

Boz Burrell was not even a bass player himself, being a studio singer. Legend goes that Robert Fripp taught him to play the bass. If he did so he was an excellent teacher, since Boz went on to become Bad Company´s original bass player (in which he did a fine job). Anyway, the other musicians are as skilful as anyone who played in the Crimson fold up to then, which is: brilliant or above that. Unfortunately the songwriting partnership of Fripp/Sinfield seemed cracked (they would parted ways, not long after Islands was released). The record is rather patchy and lacks focus. The muddy production also did not help matters much.

On the whole I must say I still like this CD a lot. Even at their lowest point so far, KC could deliver something quite superior to much of his competitors (and the competition was usually very strong in the 70´s). the band was clearly reaching crisis status (reflected on their chaotic and badly recorded Earthbound live LP) and it affected the music. Thus this is not the best CD to hear if you are new to King Crimson. But if you liked the previous works, Island s worth having, even if it lacks the strong sense of direction from Lizard. 3 stars.

Islands is one of those rare albums where Fripp and company are swept along with the wave instead of riding the crest. KC introduced jazz and heavy rock elements back in 1969, and they had ridden those ideas through the next two albums, with mixed results. Islands represents a return to a more mellow, symphonic style, picking up where they left off with Epitaph and Court.

The second half of this album (the prelude and Islands) goes a long way towards justifying the change of course. This is a beautiful piece of music in the symphonic style, and the world would be poorer without it. It is not, however, a rival to what KC had put on vinyl earlier. Sure it's pleasant, but just compare the creativity and the musical ideas packed into Lizard with this epic, and Islands will come out far worse.

The first half of Islands is markedly inferior to the second (as coincidentally the first half of Lizard falls far below the second.) Formentara Lady and Sailor's Tale are competent but hardly exceptional or compelling songs (well, Sailor's Tale has a couple of moments that sparks some interest, but once you've got the first two minutes of Formentara Lady, the other eight are pretty much wasted.) The Letters is not memorable at all and Ladies of the Road is frankly bad once you get what meagre amusement you can get out of the risque lyrical content.

In short, I'll give this two stars. It's for fans, not for the general public. The only excuse to use this to introduce someone to King Crimson would be that the only other album you have is Lizard (which is actually a better, but far less accessible production.) Islands showcases all of the flaws of the first era of King Crimson with precious few of the brilliancies.

This is my least favourite KC album of the 70s era. Some may say it continues a decline moving from ITWOP and Lizard. Bob Fripp may call Lizard a failure, but I thought it was wonderful stuff - eccentric, unique, witty and superbly performed. If Andy McCulloch had managed to control his urge to almost constantly patter away on his snare under the vocals it would have soundless less busy, which was its biggest problem.

But Islands ... it's a mix. The album starts well with Formentera Lady, the rich bowed bass leading to a gorgeous flowing passage with flute accompaniment. Then Boz's vocals come in. Dull dull dull! The chorus is bland and dull too. Then we move into the long part that many call experimental, and for once the tag almost fits. This isn't blowing-into-a-sax-full-of-water-accompanied-by-feedback kind of experimental but it does feature minimalistic jazz over a simple repetitive bassline (perhaps the first line taught to Boz by Bob Fripp) and is the only song I've ever heard that features a soprano solo (Paulina Lucas), actually a dual solo with Mel Collins's sax. Some think it's boring part but I think it's spookily atmospheric.

The improvisation flows organically in The Sailor's Tale. It's a neat 6/8 pseudo-fusion piece that holds a lot of tension until Mel rips into a scorching soprano sax solo. Nice. Just as it's getting a bit dull because the rhythm section can't muster any creativity in the masses of space within which they could do just about anything, we move to the song's highlight, Bob Fripp's chord solo, playing it like a banjo - splintery, lightning quick and a real buzz. Then back to the theme with a moody mellotron that would have been brilliant with a Lake-Giles or Anyone-Bruford rhythm section but Ian Wallace, solid technician that he is, sadly couldn't think of any colours to add and we can hardly expect Boz, who was just a gifted beginner to do much other than hold the bassline.

Then The Letters. Lyrically it's ridiculously melodramatic - the lover of a man writes to his wife to say that she's bonking her old man (nasy stuff, eh?). The wife is understandably upset and, finally, gets in such a state that she does herself in. Decades later George Lucas had Annikin Skywalker's wife die of a broken heart after her lesser half turned to the Dark Side (or due to Hayden Christensen's wooden acting performance?). The Letters is kinda like that - very 19th century - before women discovered that they could be something a little more impressive than just Adam's rib.

Anyway, the vocal bits are dull but then the wild instrumental section - an expressionist representation of the wife's emotional turmoil - is excellent, if you like hearing KC go crazy. The chaos is kept to a decent length before the music goes quiet and sombre again and Boz just about knocks us out of our seats with fabulously-roared Impaled on nails of ice!. Then the song just ... dies a quick death, like its lyrical protagonist.

Pete Sinfield's inability to understand the fairer sex again shows itself with the outrageously sexist Ladies of the Road. Dopey lyrics aside, the song is excellent, like the idiot bastard son of Cat Food and Easy Money. Mel's drunken sax and Bob's satirical facsimile of rock star guitarists who can barely play are a crack-up. Even the comparatively staid Ian Wallace comes up with an enjoyable offbeat funky offbeat pattern. Boz sings variously with evil charm and bluesy grunt - easily his best vocal performance. The Beatlesque harmonies of the chorus are well-documented.

Then we have Song of the Gulls. It's pure classical, and not an especially good example of the genre - unoriginal and uninspired.

The long title track that closes the album is very dull. I don't mind meditativeness but this stuff is simply bland, forging its peaceful path from Burt Bacharach to Kenny G, sans the former's melodic flair. With these last two tracks it's as though Bob Fripp became so avant garde that he turned the full circle to ultra-conservatism. I guess having a wildly unconventional symphonic jazz-rock band playing the blandest classical and MOR possible is adventurous in a way.

How to rate this mixed bag? With a more suitable rhythm section and a production with more clarity, less inaudible parts and a brighter drum sound some of these tracks could have been pretty special. Unless you only really like Heavy Kcrimson, the album has enough good moments for fans.

I'd give it a three but since it isn't as good as TOPP but has a higher rating on ProgArchives, I'll give it a two to help restore the balance.

We should have known by this point that King Crimson would not play to our expectations.

Islands hit the band's fanbase a bit sideways, confusing many and turning a few off. For the most part, the aggression and wildness of the previous three albums are gone. If you want the hard hitting King Crimson sound, you probably should bypass this album for a while, as this is probably their most passive and gentle release ever. Someone else in their review described it as relaxed, and that's a perfect term for it. The songwriting quality is just as high. The music is just as well constructed as we have found on other King Crimson releases. It's almost like the band came off of Lizard and thought, Hey, maybe we should settle this next one down a bit. The end result is a splendid release, but not one that will grab your attention very quickly--it's an album made to be a grower, made to be one you can put on if you're in the mood for Crimson but you don't want to have to rock out.

The first track, Formentera Lady, is a slow grower with some creepy instrumental bits towards the end. The bass holds down a steady pulse, giving the saxophone room to play. It's a hard one to describe. However, flowing right out of the end of that song is the next tune, the instrumental Sailor's Tale. This is the only true aggression anywhere on the album, featuring a quick bass riff and some neat brass harmonies. In the vein of Van der Graaf Generator, the listeners are gifted with one of those sax solos where it sounds like the player is strangling the thing--very entertaining. The intensity suddenly cuts out about two and a half minutes in, giving the guitar room for Fripp's first wild solo ever, featuring his now-famous power drill technique. I personally find this guitar solo the highlight of this album, but then, I'm one of those fans that enjoy this release while still wishing it got more aggressive and energetic. The song then fills out with classic Crimson mellotron walls, a neat and powerful tool that vanishes once more, leaving the guitar to blast the end of the song out of existence. The Letters is mostly very quiet (simple vocals), but a little ways into the song the band kicks into aggressive gear with a neat saxophone riff and guitar solo behind it. The song then peters out of existence from there.

Side two begins with Ladies of the Road, a silly-lyricked tune about roadies. Again, we have more saxophone driving this tune, making you wonder who is really writing all these songs: the guitarist or the saxophonist? The vocal line is a bit obnoxious at times. The chorus, however, sounds wonderful and complicated while still being very gentle and quiet. Like The Letters, this song has some good points, but is mostly only an okay tune. Prelude: Song of the Gulls is a very orchestral bit with violins and no vocals, setting a soft stage for the title track. Islands is a slowly building song, but one with a strong melody and some really neat piano work. For the first half, the song stays consistently soft and slow, but it begins picking up speed halfway through (though there is a terrible high pitched noise on the remaster during the speeding up section that really bothers my ears). This song is a lesson in patience, as it climaxes in an absolutely lovely and unique way under beautiful walls of keyboards, piano, and that saxophone finally fitting the music just right.

In all, this is not a bad King Crimson release, just a very different one and a very much less energetic one. So if you've come to love the band through Red or anything more recent than that, be careful, as it's much different from all that. Fans of King Crimson should approach this with an open mind, however, as it is a much better album that it is often slated as.

In 1971, King Crimson's ever changing lineup shifted once again. Previous vocalist and bassist Gordon Haskell had left the group right after the release of the band's third album, Lizard. Drummer Andy McCulloch had exited along with Haskell. Only guitarist Robert Fripp and multi-instrumentalist Mel Collins remained. Fripp at this point was the last remaining member of the original lineup which featured the Giles brothers, Ian McDonald, and Greg Lake. In order to put together another band to tour and record, Fripp recruited singer Boz Burrell and drummer Ian Wallace to patch up the holes in the group. Because King Crimson needed a new bassist badly, Fripp decided to teach Burrell bass in order to fill both vocal and bass slots. King Crimson once again entered the studio and recorded their fourth album, Islands.

The album continues the dark atmosphere that the band had previously explored but with a jazz flavor due to the addition of Robin Miller and Mark Charig who play both Oboe and Cornet respectively. Mel Collins's saxophone and flute talents are also prevalent. Two more guest musicians who join King Crimson are Harry Miller, a double bassist, and pianist Keith Tippet.

The album itself opens with the dark Formentera Lady a song that starts with a very gloomy bowed double bass solo by Harry Miller. Chimes and flute melodies complement the intro while Burrell's innocent vocals permeate throughout. The song changes shape with a simple bass riff that carries the song throughout. The saxophone makes it's introduction throughout the latter part of the song along with some ghostly wailing by sopranist Paulina Lucas. The bass sax and violin playing all conjure images of Middle Eastern ports and bazaars with dhows drifting across the water in the background.

The song fades into the next one Sailor's Tale. Featuring a monotonous drum hi-hat beat, an angular bass line, and some nerve wracking sax playing, the listener has the feeling that they are trapped on a clipper ship at sea while a horrific storm passes over them. The third song The Letters starts with a soft guitar intro accompanied by Burrell's vocals before kicking into high gear with some intense horn and violin riffs. Burrell at one point during a quiet interlude shouts Impaled on nails of ice! while the saxophone just plays lazily around before the song ends.

The notorious Ladies of the Road follows this. The lyrics describing various sexual encounters between man and woman have been reviled as being misygonistic. The song's jazzy melody is marked by a simple drum beat and a weird carnival type of sound during the choruses. The bass and drums repeat the same ryhthm throughout while the guitar snarls inbetween with bizarre solos.

Prelude: Song of the Gulls is the strangest track on the entire album. This instrumental track features heavy string parts that dance around and provide the listener with a feeling that they are floating above the ocean and looking down through the eyes of a gull. The final song and title track Islands. This gentle song closes the album and features soft piano, guitar, and cornet playing. Although not a favorite among King Crimson fans, I find this album to be very much a favorite of mine and an essential for checking out the more avante garde side of King Crimson.

King Crimson - 'Islands' 3.5 stars

Good album, but fails compared to the early Crimson catalogue.

What is good about this album is the string arrangements compiled with the horns to give each and every song a diverse feel. The problems that occurred dealt with drawing out some of the songs way too long, the worst being the title track. The vocals were nothing to brag about either, they just seemed so lifeless. I didn't find any of the songs to be memorable besides the opening number, but none of them were necessarily bad in any way, just average.

The fans of the band and people into prog with some strings would be interested. The casual's might not find promise in this.

Depressing and Beautiful Islands

Islands is King Crimson's 4th studio album, this surged after another disliked by the majority of the fans, Lizard, a quirkier and jazzier album. With Islands, King Crimson moved to a softer and less complex sound, though still maintaining the dark aura, with a bit less of the extravagant(for some) jazz roots from Lizard, however this album can easily be differentiated from the rest because of its depressing and melancholic mood overall.

Anyway, the everlasting change of line-up also ocurrs here; Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace join the group, supporting vocals/bass and drums, respectively. These two new musicians while they weren't as capable as the previous drummer and bassist, one of the factors why people don't like the album, still were decent enough so as to not ruin the music. Besides the ''negative'' addition, there's a very good addition of wind instruments, giving it a unique touch, which no other Crimson album has. Now to the songs:

The album starts with Formentera Lady, which it begins with a wonderful blend of wind instruments to Boz's soft, yet with a dark feel, voice. The song evolves constantly but very subtley, which slowly more instruments are added to this incredible piece, Mel's great saxophone or Robert's acoustic guitar, even some scary voices giving it a unique dark mood to the song.

The following song is called Sailor's Tale. The song opens in a fast tempo drumming, with a decent, yet entertaining, bass line, and soon the sax to come to give a give a typical KC feel to the song. At a certain point, the sax and Robert's guitar reaches a climax in which soon fades, and a new rhythm to the song appears, this time a slower one, yet incredible. The main protagonist here is Robert with his amazing guitar solo, with a sound that reminds me to tin. After this incredible guitar show, the song reaches to another climax, and soon an odd sound blasts, leaving a dramatic mellotron to guide the song to the end.

The album continues with The Letters, a much softer song compared to the strength of it's previous. Boz' voice is similar to the one he delivers in Formentera Lady, soft and depressing, with Robert's acoustic guitar. But if you thought the song would be gentle all the time, you are wrong, an unexpected and frantic appearance of the sax with Robert's subtle, yet powerful guitar destroys that soft and depressing tenderness completely. That won't last long however, since the song recovers from that mind-blowing blast, but not completely, now the melody is led by Mel's saxophone, which won't lead to soft paths for so long. The song recovers once again to the rhythm of the intro, but with a bit more of energy delivered by Boz's voice, till it finishes with just Boz's depressing voice.

Want a rest? Well, you'll have to wait, because now comes the powerful, yet slow tempo, Ladies of the Road. The song has a slow rhythm, as mentioned before, created by the drums and bass, quite well performed both got to admit. Yet, the song will have it's jumps and lay downs; the jumping blast of the beginning with Mel's immpecable sax or Robert's guitar solo near the end, as well as the final sax solo with Boz' great powerful voice; the lay downs would be the very soft and gentle ''chorus' ''.

If you want to rest now, I'll give you my word to do that. Because know comes a ''classical'' song, Prelude: Song Of The Gulls, a beautiful and delicate piece performed by strings and some wind instruments. A delightness which with not many bands you can experience.

Islands finishes with the depressing title track. A song compromised by flute, piano and Boz' delightful voice. The song moves into more depressing fields when Mel's saxophone is heard. Finalising the song, the melody is made by a cheerful, though oddly enough depressing, cornet accompanied with a melodic piano and a sad mellotron and a calm drum pattern. Truly emotional this final song is, with the last section, given to cry.

To make it short, it's a wonderful depressing work of art. Gives you the classic power of KC with Robert's guitar and Mel's saxophone in songs as Sailor's Tale or The Letters, as well as the unique touch of this album which is to enjoy the beauty of songs like Islands or Prelude: Song of the Gulls. There's no other album like this in KC's catalogue, which I must insist you to admire it's uniqueness and further more give it some more spins before giving up.

5 stars. Don't buy this album expecting complexity or virtuosity on the rhythm section as in Lark's Tongue in Aspic, I recomend this album for all the aspects I named in the previous paragraph.

I've been revisiting this one a lot of late as I've always perceived Islands to be the most overlooked KC album of the '70s - and I can't resist an underdog! Interestingly, the live shows from this lineup don't sound remotely like this studio effort, further singling this album out for more personal investigation.

It's easily the quietest Crimson album, with many of the guest musicians employed on Lizard along for another, yet much different ride. I've always been intrigued by the pacing of this album, with the bowed double bass of Harry Miller moaning unaccompanied for nearly a minute on the opening Formentera Lady before a Mel Collins flute and a fluttering Keith Tippett piano arpeggio gently usher in the first verse.

Singer Boz Burrell also tends to be forgotten in the Crimson scheme of things, perhaps due to both his brief tenure and the many disparaging things the late bassist has said of his time in the band. Yet his vocal performance throughout is really quite excellent. Strange he veered away from lead singing after his KC stint ended.

The popular Ladies of the Road track has traditionally gotten the most attention here, yet I find the dynamic rich Sailor's Tale and the slow-building title track to be the showpieces of the album. Both those tracks also feature the only two mellotron presences on Islands, but indeed what incredible appearances they are!

This may not have been the most prolific period for the band as a number of melodic moments were hatched way back in the Giles, Giles & Fripp days. Yet everything still manages to sound so different on Islands, opening up an entirely new chapter of the band while still actually progressing from the previous album (the uber-adventurous Lizard).

A revisit to Islands is encouraged to all KC-minded fans who may have given this album short shrift over the years. And that goes to the present incarnation of King Crimson who I think could do a wonderful 21st century interpretation of Sailor's Tale, if they're amenable!

One of the most unique pieces of music you will find on this site.

This album is often overlooked by King Crimson fans and some even say is their worst release. One thing is certain , Islands is not an easy listening album. It may take several listens before it starts to grow on you , but once it does , it's one of the most valuable experiences you are likely to face in your musical yourney. This album feels like a big piece of music. One can not tell when a piece begins and one ends. In that aspect , Islands may be similar to Miles Davis On the Corner for you to compare somehow. Another peculiarity of this record is that there aren't mindblowing solos or incredible performances , well maybe Sailor's Tale is the exception to the rule.

The album uses quite unusual instrumentation even for a prog album including an oboe , a cornet and diferent wind instruments. The athmospthere on this record is incredibly calm , but this is an aspect of Islands you will have to deal with in order to fully appreciate it. A proof of this fact is the opener Fomentera Lady that relies on wind instruments and the ethereal scat of the soprano Paulina Lucas seems music written in another realm , and believe me I am not exagerating. This piece is connected with the ferocius Sailor's tale , this is quite a change from the mood of the opener! Bob Fripp plays an overwhelming guitar solo on this track , but there are also lots of sax and Mellotron interplay here , the good ol' mellie is often remembered by it's mellow sound but on this track it sounds like a person suffering in pain. The next number , The letters is probably the weakest track on this record because it's quite inconsistent. It has good lyrics though. Boz saves us from sleeping by screaming suddenly : Impaled in nails of ice!

The next track is the one that may resemble an actual song in structure. Ladies of the Road features a beautiful Beatles sounding chorus and some hilarious lines by Peter Sinfileld , those are not really poetical , he goes straight to the matter here: Said , please no surrender , just love to feel your Fender. Now if you have found that line grotesque , the next song is sublime. Song of the gulls , features classical instrumentation , it could be a perfect wedding march! This song has nothing to do with prog , rock or any of the genres described on the site , it's beyond all that. Truly one of a kind

This record closes in the same mood it started with the title song Islands. Boz wasn't the finest bass player Fripp has found but his voice really suited this record and this track in particular. Melancholic enough to bring tears out of your eyes , whatever island this guys are describing I just want to get stranded there. Musically the song is really simple. Boz's voice is accompanied by a subtle piano , some wind instruments , a little buildup at the end of the tune... after the song finally vanishes out of your speakers and you are left in awe with the fourth King Crimson album.

Not for every listener for sure , but it may be a really good choice for the adventorous ones.

I really like most of King Crimson's albums in the 70's, their music was very epic and (even the improvs) had something that made them very enjoyable. This album however, is kind of dissapointing compared to ITCOTCK or Larks' Tongues In Aspic.

The album starts out pretty good with the quite gentle "Formantera Lady", a ten minute long song which starts out very soft and mellow, lovely flute, piano and gentle vocals make it a pleasant experience. After a while a smooth bassline joins the song and the song gets more bombastic. After about seven minutes some sort of jazzy jam comes in, this is the King Crimson I like, it's a really good opener for this album.

"Sailor Tale" is next, an up-tempo song with a pretty nice bass riff and saxophone playing. The first two minutes are basiccaly a jazzy jam, after a while Robert Fripp's growling guitar takes the leading role, mellotron comes in and the song reaches it's climax. Though not really being a bad song, the song isn't able to touch me, it feels kind of unfinished.

"The Letters" is worse, it starts out very soft with really quiet vocals. Eventually guitar comes in, which is compared to the vocals extremely loud, the song turns into a not very enjoyable jam and sometimes the very quiet vocals return, not a good song at all.

"Ladies Of The Road" is a more decent song than "The Letters", it's kind of funky and the vocals are much better than on the previous song. The song has several guitar and saxophone solo's, but the song lacks power, and just like most of the songs on this album, feels like it could have been much better.

Next is "Prelude: Song Of Gulls", a mellotron driven song. This song is very much influenced by classical music and sounds pretty fun, nothing more than just fun, though. The song is not very diverse, but can be quite a nice listen.

"Islands" is the final track of the song, it also is the lengthiest track. The vocals sound very melancholic and they are driven by nice piano. This soft music goes on for a couple minutes, a couple minutes too much maybe, and they lead to a very short climax, a very short jazzy jam. After a minute of total silence we get to hear some talking and improvising, maybe this is added as some sort of hidden track, but I'm not sure. "Islands" could have been an amazing song, I'm sure of that, I don't understand why the climax couldn't be more powerful and lengthier and why the song didn't have a little more diversity, it now is a mediocore song instead of a KC classic.

Islands really lacks the feeling most other King Crimson albums have, it's not diverse at all, which doesn't have to be bad, but in this case, it is. Only "Formantera Lady" can maybe be called a KC classic, though it isn't as good as any track on ITCOTCK, the rest of the tracks all are dissapointing. I really think this album could be much better, I can't enjoy this album so I'll give it just two stars.

I was truly surprised when I saw the ratings of this album. Ingenious album.

It's way more original than two previous one (especially In The Wake Of Poseidon which is something like echo after In The Court Of The Crimson King, but that's pretty obvious). KC created one of the most suggestive images in their career, with the touch of sea, faraway lands and strange adventures... The strings and sax mostly makes this magic. In my opinion it's the most conceptual album by KC.

I think also the reason of this underrating is that "Islands" is very peaceful and slow album. It's easy to fall asleep while listening, not because it's boring - by all means no. Quite the opposite - it's so amusing that it engages all attention and sends you to the dreamland, cause that's where this music belongs to. Not from this world. Pure and strange beauty.

With all the bad reviews of this album, I struggled for a very long time if it was worth buying. Such a lucky I did! It is incredible underrated. While maybe not containing much of either the stunning harshness of songs like red and schizoid man, or the powerful, symphonic side of songs like Epitaph and ITCOTCK, it's a very good and beautiful album, despite having some of-road improvised parts. The fact that it's very uniqe in style for king crimson is probably the reason why it's so underrated. People don't expect Crimson to sound like this. The album is easily the most mellow output from King Crimson, but the sound is still exciting and quite adventorous in some tracks, with some harsh, agressive moments.

Formentera Lady is a long mystic, surrealistic song, quite hard to grip and get into. Very mellow, but still exciting. The only problem is that the bass can seem to be a little bit simple and repetative. I really like the piano, and the saxes are not that wrong either. 7/10

Next one is Sailor's Tale, which have to be the most typical King Crimson track here, and the most famous of the album. It remember me much of "The Devils triangle", with it's haunting mellotrons and hurrying tempo towards the end, but it's not at all that repetative and better, wonderful! 9/10

Here comes another one that's probably hard to grip for some. The Letters goes from agressive to very quite and then back again. I think it's a very dynamic and interesting song, but some of the improvisations (it sounds at least like improvisations) can be a little bit dragged and out of tune. 7/10

Ladies of the road is a really uniqe song by Crimson standards! It's like a mix of Crimson and the Beatles, much like Cat food, but more daring and original. It goes from Beatles harmonies right into scorching saxes and guitars a la Crimson. Still, the entirety is somewhat ruined by saxes which are a little bit too much out of tune and seems improvised and sometimes annoying. Would have been wondeful if they were a little bit more "controlled". Lyrics are catchy and funny, maybe a little bit goofy for Crimson... 8/10

Song of The Gulls is not Crimson at all. It somehow fits out rather OK, and it's a nice little song, but not at all the reason why we like Crimson. It's a classic approach and... Classic music on a Crimson album? It's somewhat wierd... But as the song is well played, and the melodies are good, it's still a good song. 6/10

And then the title track, what an incredible warm, peacefull, beutifull song! Every single little jazzy interlude fits in perfectly, nothing interupts the flow, and the lyrics are as wonderull as the music. When the mellotron kicks in at the end you feel that it just can't get better done than this. 10/10

Buy this if you want a mellow, but still somewhat demanding and adventorous album

I think that this is album is in general very underrated and has got a lot of not good criticism. For instance I find this album much better than Lizard. I find it with very subtle melodies. One ha to listent how it begins with "Formentera Lady". It has a lot of chinese music influences. In many parts in Jazzy. In many places it begins slow and then it becomes stronger and stronger. I find it also a very concept album. As a whole is like a just one track. I recommend this album very strongly it will give you compensations and you will get surprised of the very fine music that could be done at 1971. Undoubtedly five stars.

I found there plenty of reviews from site collaborators with very different opinions - and marks from 1 to 5 as well. So, is this album so different or strange? No way,I think.

I have it for years and like it. I think many listeners are expected from any KC album some sound explosions, energy peaks and slow moments, contrasts, saying in one word. You can't find too much of them there on this album.

All music is based on Fripp's mellotron and guitar sound with many brass additions from Mel Collins and guest musicians, incl. Mark Charig and Robin Miller. Boz Burrel, lead vocalist,is good enough for singing, but very average as bass player. So, we have slow,mellow and often sad album without contrasts but with nice melodies, long compositions and very classic feel. There are plenty of bras arrangements, incl. superb sax solos long "Sailor's Tale". We have there some sounds coming from great avant-jazz piano player Keith Tippeth and some clasic Paulina Lucas soprano voice on back-singing. We have light jazzy and bluesy feel as well.

Differently from some other KC albums, no surprices,no explosions, but just good down tempo music of high viscosity. And it is enough for good album!

I only discovered this album recently. As with numerous albums of the 70's I'm glad I did. The 2nd track (A Soldiers Tale) is a prog masterpiece. Fripps manic guitar is accompanied by various other strange sound effects which seem to draw you to the galaxies as displayed on the CD cover.

The 1st & last tracks are very pastoral tracks which have a gothic or ghostly ambience. Formentera Lady has a very haunting climax where you hear her singing in the background. Her voice becomes louder until it fades into the next track. The last track (Islands) would be suitable at someone's funeral. Indeed this album shares certain themes to two other 1971 albums Acquiring The Taste & Pawn Hearts. These being The Sea & a feeling of gothic resignation. That is why this album is such a unique experience.

The Ladies Of The Road is the weakest track on the album. Someone said the lyrics display an ignorance of women. I don't think understanding women on the road requires any intelligence. Young men feel only one thing in those situations & its got nothing to with anyone's sensibilites. Therefore these lyrics are entirely appropriate.

If "Lizard" dipped its toes into the vast cool ocean of modern jazz, "Islands" submerged itself. Only Fripp, Sinfield and Collins remain, with Collins having the greatest impact on the sound via woodwinds and brass. It's almost as if Robert Fripp tried out a variety of ensemble concepts during the initial run of the group, before settling on the violin led final trio of disks that many regard as the group's best.

The new bassist, and I do mean new, as he only learned the instrument prior to the recording of the album, plays loudly to compensate for questionable ability. One of my problems with KC from here on out as that they seem to have only two volumes - not loud enough no matter how high you turn it up, and too loud no matter how low you turn it down. So most of "Formentera Lady" falls into the former category and the "Sailor's Tale" the latter. Both have real highlights, with the gentle melody of "Formentera Lady" carried well by Boz and improvised later by Collins, and the closing mellotron-led passages of "Sailor's Tale" reminding us of the power of the orchestral prog introduced waaaaaaaay back on ITCOCK just 3 years prior.

"Ladies of the Road" marks a low point for the album - a kinky retelling of the groupies' story from the innocent band member's perspective....please. Gimmickry laden, it must have been equally unimpressive in its day, but is now wholly irrelevant and not even worth the curiosity. But "Prelude/Song of the Gulls" is perhaps the group's most fully classical moment ever, from the meters down to the instrumentation, and it provides a gorgeous intro to the album's title track. Though the decidedly mellow "Islands" is a bit overlong, it does epitomize Fripp's ongoing knack for avant garde romanticism that would permeate some of the more accessible tracks on the remaining albums.

While alienating to fans, flawed in direction and production, and definitely not a desert island disk, this album proved that, at least in the 1970s, Robert Fripp possessed an uncanny knack of making a minor treasure out of a major shipwreck.

There's not much on this album that sounds like a regular King Crimson work. It's very soft and mellow. No wonder it attracts people that are not in KC normally, and disagrees with devoted fans.

The diversity of King Crimson is one of the reasons why I love them so much, and while Island may not be an album that I pick up a lot, I think it's still a decent accomplishment, especially the first side. Formentary Lady burns with a very subdued fire; the known loudness of Crimson is entirely absent. By contrast this is almost pastoral in nature, with very unusual and experimental harmonies, especially at the end. In fact it rather sounds like kraut rock then like King Crimson. Anyway, a stash of dope comes recommended to fully appreciate this.

The 7 minute Sailor's Tale is a nice jazz rock improvisation that treads more familiar water. Excellent piece. The Letters is almost drowsy, but gets really loud after a minute or two. It brings back the atmosphere of the previous album but the song doesn't captivate me equally.

With the next track, Ladies of the Road, the album fades out for me. I am not much of a Beatles fan so that might explain why I don't like the schoolboy harmonies here. But I think that also Beatles fans would find this substandard. Song of the Gulls is a surprisingly inadequate orchestral piece and only makes me further loose my interest. The closing track Island brings the album's momentum back, at least for a while. It has a nice soothing atmosphere and would have been great for just 4 minutes, but it lacks the material necessary to last for 12 minutes.

Even with all the energy I put in this album, I can only appreciate the first 2 tracks. Therefore it looks highly unlikely I will ever replace my vinyl copy for a CD, unless I really can't think of anything else to buy, which - says my scraggy wallet - won't be anytime soon...

"islands join hands 'neath heaven's sea"

Another winner from King Crimson, though this album stands out in the band's discography for its lack of heavy music, precise technical playing, and unconventional time signatures, usually defining features of the Crimson sound. Bandleader Robert Fripp knew what he was doing, however, and the album succeeds on its own terms. Boz's voice is perfect for this kind of music, with his thick English accent and classical inflections. "Formentara Lady" runs a little long, but it sets a nice gentle mood (and is as far as I know the only Crimson track to feature a female musician). "Sailors Tale" is a nice jazz-influenced piece, and Fripp's chord-based guitar solo is one of the most original I have heard. "The Letters" is by far the most startling thing on here, with great dynamic contrast, and the mellotron used to its fullest potential. Boz sounds really great here, and nails the haunting mood that the text is trying to create. Much has been said of the sexist lyrics in "Ladies of the Road." I would like to hope that Peter Sinfield was poking fun of the "rock 'n' roll lifestyle" instead of endorsing it, but it is not entirely clear here. In any case, the song is catchy, but not a high point of the album. Following a pretty-sounding but conventional prelude, we have the title track "Islands," which may be one of the most beautiful tracks you will hear. The poetic nature of the text fits the soft music perfectly, setting a scene of pure tranquility. The whole piece follows a gradual crescendo that culminates triumphantly with Mark Charig's cornet. King Crimson knows how to close an album, and "Islands" is a marvel. The accessibility and genre-crossing of this album makes it highly recommended for any listener, not just prog fans.

Between two of their most amazing albums (Lizard and Larks' Tongues In Aspic), King Crimson released this piece of proto-new age drivel. Sure, as is often the case with Crimson, most of the band members on the previous album are gone, but this album doesn't come close to the standards we had come to expect from Fripp & company.

First, the good points. Boz Burrell had a great voice. Possibly the best of any incarnation of Crimson. Sailor's Tale, once it gets up to speed, has some fine moments, particularly in the interplay between Fripp's guitar and Mel Collins' sax. And Ladies Of The Road, although simple compared to most King Crimson songs, is quite nice.

But the rest of the album ranges from completely forgettable to downright bad. Formantera Lady, with asian motifs, is the best of that bunch. It takes too long to get going, and never rises above it's simplicity. The Letters, Prelude: Song Of The Gulls and Islands are all extremely yawn inducing, and the closer, Islands, is just painful to listen to. Mark Charig's cornet solo is one of the worst horn solos I've ever heard.

Some of the live recordings of this group released by DGM has given me a little more respect for this lineup, but this album has always been nearly unlistenable to me.

A savagely crushing blow after the fantastic "Lizard" one year earlier. I guess it may have had something to do with the continually changing lineup. Either that - or the fact that Mr Fripp couldn't hold a steady band down for more than one year - so I guess that says a lot more about him than the musicians that came and went.

'Formentera Lady' kicks things off at snails pace - and from there on things basically grind to a halt. Orchestral strings and other classical instruments are utilised, but fail miserably to enliven procedures. Dull, dull dull. Even so called 'fans favourite' Song of the Gulls' cant' awaken me from my slumber while listening to this snorefest. By the time I'm half way through listening to the title track 'Islands' I'm so comatose that I can barely string a sentence together.

Thankfully much better days were to follow. This is, however, one to forget - a non-entity. Nada.

King Crimson's slide towards irrelevancy continues with this album (not that they ever reached that point, of course, but they were sure on that path in 1971), but strangely this a good deal better than Lizard. The lineup changed once more, as future Bad Company bassist Boz Burrell took over Haskell's bass and vocal duties (and believe me, he may not be any sort of brilliant singer, but he's miles above Haskell), and one Ian Wallace (who also later played on live tours with Bob Dylan - is there any band more useful for six degrees of separation games?) took over the drum duties. Fripp remained the primary songwriter, and while some of the material on here is worse than anything on Lizard, a good deal of it also shows that Robert was really getting the hang of this whole songwriting thing.

The bad news of the album comes in the form of the first seventeen minutes, a combination of two tracks, "Formentera Lady" and "Sailor's Tale." The actual song isn't that bad - after pointless instrumental wanking for about two minutes, we're greeted with a pleasant late-60's-style easterny psychedelic ballad (with prog lyrics, of course), and while it's nothing genial, it's still a nice escape from stuff like "Happy Family" off the last album. Unfortunately, Fripp just couldn't let a good thing go undisturbed - over the next seven minutes or so, he goes for discord overload, throwing in choirs purposefully singing off key and various instruments just playing whatever. Then the band breaks into "The Sailor's Tale," and while Fripp gets a lengthy guitar solo that might seem alright in its bizarreness, it pales to any number of his efforts before and after. And the rest of the music, well, it's basically just more of the same - instrumental noise taking the place of good ideas and cohesion. I will admit that some bits and pieces of the jamming are interesting on a purely technical level, but once again, I've heard much much better in my life.

Amazingly, though, the rest of the album is totally unlike that seventeen minute waste. The next two tracks are, like, actual songs! With real melodies, real dynamics, real riffs, you name it. Just as well, Sinfield all of a sudden develops a decent talent for lyric-writing - "The Letter" is clear, concise and non-cliched in its tale of one man and two women, "Ladies of the Road" is filled with puns about screwing groupies, and the closing title track provides nice imagery of floating on your own private island. Nothing pretentious, nothing meaningless, just some nice texts allowing for actual resonance with the listener. So hats off to our favorite lyrical dork.

But back to the music. The opening melody of "The Letter" is quietly eerie, with Boz setting the scene of the first two verses, and then out of nowhere comes this GREAT mellotron/brass riff with Fripp doing some of his stuff over it. Then there's some slight sax noodling to build up the tension further, with Fripp adding some guitar coloring once more, and following that Boz starts screaming the "IMPALED ON NAILS OF ICE" part in a way that really conveys the hurt and frustration of the wife, before going back to the quiet eerie melody that goes with the wife killing herself. Now don't get me wrong, this isn't the greatest rock song of all time or anything like that, but it's just such a nice pleasant surprise to discover that Fripp could, in fact, pen a solid rock song, albeit with some necessary Crimson twisting.

Then of course there's "Ladies of the Road," with naughty music to go with the naughty lyrics. The verse melody drips with subtle sleaze, the instrumental breaks are bass heavy with great sleazy sax parts, there's bits and pieces of typical Fripp guitar, and there's even an ultra-charming Beatlesesque chorus to match! WHERE WERE YOU ON LIZARD??!!!

Now the next two tracks are a bit more "pretentious," but in a good way. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a 100% classical composition by Fripp, who takes full advantage of the presence of all the instrumentalists available to him in the studio. It doesn't break any ground in classical music, of course, but I don't really mind that - the era of classical music he's trying to model this after was characterized by rigid rules and standards, after all, and this is just another quality composition following those rules. Besides, Fripp is one person I'd much prefer to stick to "regular" classical than modern classical - if ever there was a creative person who could afford some (not total, but some) "rigidity," it's Fripp.

Then there's the title track, a pleasant nine-minute ballad driven by keyboards and Mark Charig's (one of the album's featured players) cornet. Whatever be, the music creates a really beautiful atmosphere - I really feel like I'm on a sea floating towards an island, except that for me, the sea I'm on is in outer space, and the island is somewhere in the middle of the gorgeous album cover. Major kudos go to Fripp for the restraint shown in this composition - the Fripp of the previous year would have tried to make the last six minutes of this into "The Battle of Glass Tears," after all. Here, though, Fripp managed to create one of the ideal songs for listening to just before it's time to go to bed, and that's a compliment. Of course, for whatever reason, after the track ends, there's silence, and then a tape of Fripp giving some direction in the studio, followed by strings tuning up. Fripp's voice is neat, that's all I can say about that.

Overall, I can see how many KC fans could end up disliking this - the second half of the album isn't really "progressive" at all, and the first half, in my opinion, gives a bad name to experimentation in rock music. However, as one who judges music by its quality and not by how many points on the "progressive checklist" it matches, I can tell you that the second half of this album is very very enjoyable. Don't overspend on the album, but don't avoid it either.

The general consensus on the four albums of the first era of King Crimson seem to adhere to the following rules: overrated, non-rated, underrated, and aptly rated. While some individuals may disagree about a couple of these, there are apparently very few who would feel the need to dispute the response to 'Islands', the fourth album from the Fripp/Sinfield line-ups.

And aptly rated it is indeed; no lover of prog would readily criticise this record, yet its minor weak points are equally obvious and agreed upon. Finally there is peace among the Crimso-critics, and this is very fitting with the mood of 'Islands'. It is a modest and tranquil album, but not with its chaotic moments.

'Formentera Lady' opens, with some simple but melodic themes and a nice whimsical B-section (I won't say chorus, 'cos... what's a chorus?). It soon turns into a trippy improv-jam, utilising a soprano and a variety of orchestral instruments, who spiral around on those kind of eastern scales you hear on early Floyd records. It's nice mood-music but 6 or 7 minutes would suffice. 'Sailor's Tale' is a really grooving ABA instrumental with the principle section reminiscent of the speedy 6/8 interludes from 'Schizoid Man'. It features some truly explosive guitar work from Fripp, and Mel's sax sounds like a horse! The repeating bass riff holds things down though, and it's only the unnecessary mellotron coda that slightly ruins things. The first side ends on a bit of a low-point with the confusing, dark tale that is 'The Letters'. I guess the lyrics prevail here, but the totally random (and far too loud) middle section just sounds like an introduction to a much better song.

'Ladies of the Road' fulfils the role of the obligatory 'light-hearted song' on this Crimso album. But just like the others in the 'Cat Food' series, it's a really great tune. It's already been pointed out that the harmony-fuelled choruses are Beatle- esque, and I believe the bluesy verses too, are reminiscent of something like 'Come Together'. With the majority of this piece in 7/8, it will never lose its originality, which is lucky because it loses most of its groove under such a time signature. In contrast, the misplaced 'Prelude: Song of the Gulls' has no groove to begin with, because it is entirely of a classical style and instrumentation. Although not strictly unpleasant, I feel that Fripp was perhaps out of his depth attempting to write classically and, in any case, was wrong to include this piece of music on a rock album. It kind of reminds me of a primary school performance, where the parents politely clap afterwards so as not to offend... 'Islands' ends this album on a peaceful high. I think this song is one of Crimson's most emotional outputs, certainly THE most from the first set of albums. The muted trumpet solo is particularly moving. And like many King Crimson songs it builds into a crescendo, but unlike most, it doesn't become cacophonous; as it should, 'Islands' finishes with the same beauty with which it begins.

Yes, this record is great. It has some less memorable moments, and one truly naff piece, but overall it is a great way to end an era. The general feel is softer (hell, even Keith Tippet has calmed down) and this compliments the artwork greatly. In some ways, 'Islands' brings together all the best parts of the previous three efforts, but just like those it could never be perfect. That would come later...

"Islands" is the quitest "King Crimson" - album in history. Don't compare it to any other album from those guys, it's not as bombastic as "In the Court of the Crimson King", not as atmospheric as "In the Wake of Poseidon" or not as eclectic as "Lizard". But "Islands" is nevertheless a very good album.

The songs are spare instrumented and very calmly. Most time you just hear one or two instruments playing some easy but interesting and nice melodies together with some quiet vocals. Because of this the album gives you a pleasent spheric feeling which culminates in the last track ("Islands), a song you should listen to while lying in bed and closing your eyes. Just "Ladies of the Road" is a typical King Crimson - song: jazzy and freaky like you know it from "Lizard" or "In the Court..."

A very interseting album because it's totally different to any other album from those prog-giants and also a very beautiful piece of prog-history you should listen to.

Before listening to Islands I've been subjected to both the positive and the negative opinions of this album from both friends and professional online reviewers so I knew that it wouldn't be an easy to get into. My initial reaction reminded me of all of the negative comments that it has received over the years. It might be a completely different album than the one you might expect to fill in the gap between Lizard and Larks' Tongues In Aspic, which made many people question it as a legitimate King Crimson release and I can understand that. Still, there was something in this material that made me want to revisit it on many more occasions since then and now my opinion has completely reversed into a positive such!

Please note that I rarely make myself listen to music that I didn't initially enjoy, i.e. there has to be something there to begin with that sparked my interest and this was definitely the case with Islands. I might not have originally gasped at compositions like Formentera Lady or the completely gorgeous arrangement of Prelude: Song Of The Gulls that sounds like nothing King Crimson have ever released even to this day. Still, I clearly remember liking the very raw sound of Mel Collins' saxophone on Ladies Of The Road and the melodic arrangement of the title track. Eventually I would go on to appreciate other sections like the wonderful instrumental Sailor's Tale where Robert Fripp finally takes his rightful place in the spotlight and the highly underrated The Letters, which to me sounds like the main inspiration for Anekdoten's sound.

Today I consider Islands to be a worthy addition to the King Crimson discography because, just like its predecessor, it offers another completely unique record experience that the band would never try to replicate again. If you've already covered the basics like King Crimson's debut album and Red and Larks' Tongues In Aspic then you can safely put Islands on your purchase list. Just remember to be open-minded about the initial experience and the music will handle the rest.

***** star songs: Sailor's Tale (7:21) Prelude: Song Of The Gulls (4:14)

**** star songs: Formentera Lady (10:14) The Letters (4:26) Ladies Of The Road (5:28) Islands (11:51)

Here we have "Islands" another King Crimson album with an almost completely different lineup than the last one. So once again sounds nothing alike the last album. This one to me is more melody based than jazzy/experimental. So it's a little more acsesable as well. Islands might be a good album to pick up after you have ITCOTCK. It has what could have been a very big radio hit in "Ladies of the Road". The album is very "pretty" sounding if you know what I mean. Very light, and easy to enjoy. My favorite piece is the title track, with Formentera Lady close behind. The glory here is that each track has something to bring to the table. The album would not be the same if it lost any of the pieces which is nice. Islands is a great piece of music and is IMO the second most powerful album in the early era of the band up until Larks.

You can roughly group King Crimson's 1969-1974 era albums into two distinct groups; firstly, you have the stone-cold classics, the two albums that bookend this collection, '69's seminal debut 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' and the dark, bass-heavy closer 'Red' from '74. Then you have all the rest. 'Islands', from 1971, with it's freaky, jazz-natured riffs and ghostly ambience, is one of the rest. There are only so many 'classic' albums a band can produce in their lifetime and these usually come at career beginnings. As most of you will know, King Crimson split after releasing 'Red'(thanks to leader Bob Fripp). However, Fripp resumed band activities eight years later in 1982 with the post-punky 'Disicpline' album, which came complete with a fresh new-line up. King Crimson would make many more albums post 'Discipline', but none to match any of the wonderfully inventive albums that characterized then group's early burst of activity. 'In The Court...' and 'Red' were the two stand-outs; others, such as 'Lizard' and 'Larks Tongues In Aspic' still broke conventions and dazzled with their artistic flair, but they somehow failed to re-invite the pure brilliance of the classic two. 'Islands' is pretty much King Crimson doing jazz, just within an avant-garde/prog-rock framework. It lacks the timeless melodies or iconic themes of Kin Crimson's very best, but you have to remember to take this jugdement in context. Most King Crimson albums feature more musical innovation that most of band's careers. 'Islands' is by no means a great Crimson album, but only in the context of what it has to live upto. If 10cc or George Michael had released 'Islands', they'd be hailed as genius'. Just remember the context of it all. STEFAN TURNER, LONDON, 2010

One of my least favorite of King Crimson's albums. By far the lowest of their "classical" period. This is amazingly quiet and has some downright boring parts such as "Islands" which never falls to make me yawn. KC always seemed to provide a wide range of styles on their releases but on ISLANDS, I can't find them. Lots of the "same ole same ole..". On much of this, I find myself waiting for something to pick up and begin to happen-rarely does, though. The best here is "Ladies of the Road", a funky upbeat number and "Prelude" a wonderful classical that always reminds me of Mike Oldfield. Much of this album, probably because of the sax of Mel Collins, puts me in mind of early Roxy Music. However, it never has the pure energy that Roxy Music had on their first couple of albums. Lots of wasted space and noodling here. Sorry, KC, but only 2 stars. Almost 2 1/2 but not quite.

King Crimson - Islands (1971)

The '71 King Crimson effort shows a small regression. The debut and 'Poseidon' had both been great symphonic/eclectic prog albums and the even more interesting 'Lizard' can be seen as an artistic peak of the progressive movement in general. Successfulness in innovation under the flag of guitarist/mellotron-player Robert Fripp didn't mean having a steady band and thus the poorly formed version of '71 Crimson fails to impress me. The lack of a good bass-player, some good composition skills and a vision does this album much harm.

The style of this album is different from all other King Crimson albums, though it relates a bit with the jazzy/avant Lizard. Instead of a 'full' sound, the band has an 'empty' sound with many low-volume or fragmentary themes. The wind-section is often disturbing. The jazz influences just don't work to well on this album in my opinion.

Still, this album has a lot of beautiful moments. The opening section, Formentera Lady, has it's moments (though it's too long and a bit boring). Sailor's Tale has a great ending section with an intense King Crimson sound, but is bothered by a lack of cohesiveness and direction. The Letters and Ladies on the Road both suffer from fragmentary song-writing but do have their catchy moments. The refrein of Ladies on the Road is very Beatlesque, which is quite strange after the harsh criticism on the Lizard song 'Happy Family'.

The real attraction is the surprisingly acoustic, harmonic and accessible 'Prelude: Song Of The Gulls' and 'Islands' ending section of the album. Song of Gulls is a fully acoustic, almost classical, piece with a great string-section. A total surprise, but it's a relaxing piece of music. The epic, Island, is just great. A warm piano, a good wind-section and devoted vocals by Boz. The piece is best described as beautiful. Not very progressive, not confronting, just beautiful. I wished they had played more of these songs in their later days.

Conclusion. I won't consider this an essential King Crimson release. The band sound disjointed and the album lacks cohesion. The only essential piece is the title track. Some tracks bore me and some of wind-sections irritate me. Fans of the band could carefully try to get into this album, but if you don't have that King Crimson-urge you'd better spent your money elsewhere. For those who embrace the digital era I would recommend the song Island, one of the few tracks your girlfriend/wife will also like. Three stars.

Fripp got a touring band together before this album was recorded. There was no tour for Lizard. Islands is the last KC album to feature the lyrics of Peter Sinfield. It would be the last appearance of flautist/sax player Mel Collins until he briefly showed up on Red. New drummer Ian Wallace was probably the best drummer KC had after Giles and Bruford. Fripp personally taught singer Boz Burrell how to play bass. After this album he would go on to join Bad Company. Keith Tippett, guest pianist for the last two albums, would leave after this. Islands was the worst album Crimson made until Beat.

"Formentera Lady" starts with string bass, then flute and piano. Boz starts singing. Later bass, bass drum and hi-hat and some more flute. Vocals mimic the flute playing. If you listen closely you can hear some of Fripp's acoustic guitar. Later on some sax. Near the end is some soprano female vocals. A hi-hat pattern seques into..."A Sailor's Tale", the best song here. Based around a repeated bass line. Guitar and sax play in unison. Later a dissonant sax solo. After the song changes to a beat with snare rim sound. Fripp changes his guitar tone and Mellotron comes in. Guitar gets more banjo-sounding with stronger snare hits now. The music as a whole is now more intense and dramatic. Drums stop and Fripp plays some fast banjo- like guitar.

"The Letters" is the worst song. Starts with guitar and vocals, then sax and drums. Best part of the song is when Boz yells "impaled on nails of ice!". "Ladies Of The Road" is a blues-rock song about groupies. Has lines like: "stone-headed Frisco spacer / ate all the meat I gave her". Wallace came up with the drum pattern. The chorus sounds like the Beatles and has backwards guitar. Lots of good sleazy sax in this song.

"Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" does not feature a single member of the band. Only classical session musicians. Supposedly Fripp conducted the orchestra using a pencil. A nice piece of music. The title track starts with piano, vocals and bass flute. Later music changes to the main part of the song. After cornet and harmonium came in. Halfway the drums come in but they are mixed low. Then some Mellotron and more cornet.

There really is not another album like this in the Crimson discography. Fripp clearly had to reinvent his band after this. This is good for hearing "Sailor's Tale", and maybe "Ladies". The rest is some of the worst stuff this band ever came up with. I think this was the last album where Fripp wrote all the music. 2 stars.

OVERLOOKED GEM, SOME WEAK SOME STRONG SONGS

BACKGROUND: King Crimson gained attnetion as a forerunner of progressive rock in 1969 with the release of their first album. It was powerful symphonic prog with jazz/rock fusion and a lot of originality, such as lengthy pieces with bizarre lyrics and a mysterious atmosphere, as well as a lot of chord change sand unusual time signatures. The band quickly dissolved, they released a second album, 'In wake of Poseidon', which was essentially a weaker version of the first album. Then Lizard was a mesmerising album with Mel Collins' adding amazing wind instrumental work and was a classical/folk/jazz-rock mix. Then they followed it up with 'ISLANDS'

ANALYSIS: Unlike a lot of other vocalists for THE CRIM in the early 70's, Boz Burrell is a fine vocalist. He has a very pretty voice. The album is generally a mix of a lot of different styles.

Around this time I think King Crimson were at their best. A lot of their later stuff, even I mean later in the 70's, is quite predictable, but on Debut/Lizard/Islands they were open to anything and everything. Later on it was more about trying to blow up amps, especially on albums like Larks Tongues, Red, Thrak and Construction of Light.

The opening 'Formentera Lady' is a brilliant mix of Eastern music, a bit Arabian. There are some haunting female voices and a very Eastern rhythm. Won't here anything like that on 'Construction of Light' will we? There are a variety of instruments and Boz sings so well to express a love emotion. The second song is a harder edged song with raucous guitar and a jazzy rhythm section, a good instrumental. There are a couple of weaker peices in the middle of the of the album, 'Ladies of the road' and 'The letter'. The former is a stab at an up- tempo comedy number with sexual lyrics that would later be a feature of ELP albums. The second, 'The letter' is much better, an emotional song about a cheating man, with soft sections and a loud instrumental bit that will blow your ears off, but ultimately, not a good song.

The album closes with 'Song of the gulls/islands'. 'Song of the gulls' is a beautiful classical msuic piece that leads into the title track. 'Islands' is a delicate, classical-influenced ballad with gorgeous vocals from 'Boz', although his voice needs to be louder in the mix sometimes. For that error I can safely say this album is worth three stars. It ruins what was almost a perfect song. It has a perfect melody and a very warm feeling in the music, very peaceful and restful.

CONCLUSION: This is possibly my favourite line up for KC, I mean what would be better than Mel Collins/Robert Fripp/Boz Burrell. Boz sings with a delicate, quaint charm that fits well with the mysterious moniker of the band and Collins' wind instruments add a more colourful, varied texture than what would be on later albums. It is a highly accomplished album, but for a few glitches, it is ultimately worth about three stars.

CONCLUSION

"Islands" is the most heavily maligned of all of King Crimson's 70's studio albums, and based on its reputation, I took my time in acquiring it. When the fortieth anniversary remaster of it was released, I saw it as an opportunity to complete my collection and boy am I glad that I did! It has since become one of my very favorite records from the group, second only to their debut and maybe "Lizard."

"Islands" is the fourth studio album from the continually disintegrating band headed by Robert Fripp. Given the fact that the personnel vary so frequently, it's remarkable that Fripp was able to get anything at all recorded, let alone something of such high quality. The album consists of six generally lengthy songs and maintains a somewhat more laid back atmosphere than King Crimson is known for, but the record is not without its intense moments. I find both the title and the cover art to be extremely appropriate; the theme of little spots of color surrounded by emptiness is embodied perfectly in the music here.

The opening track, "Formentera Lady," begins with brooding cellos which gradually give way to a rather pastoral song without much drama. This all changes with "A Sailor's Tale," an energetic and orginal piece recalling the bombast of "21st Century Schizoid Man." However, unlike King Crimson's second album, "In The Wake of Poseidon," "Islands" avoids simply rehashing earlier material and all of the songs have a personailty of their own. "The Letters" is extremely powerful both musically and lyrically and "Ladies of the Road," while admittedly somewhat crass, is saved by the Beatles-esque vocal harmonies in the chorus. Finally, we are treated to an orchestral piece and the expansive melancholy of the title track.

The musicianship is excellent all around, especially considering that Fripp, lacking a bass player, had to teach all the parts to the singer note for note. Fripp's banjo influenced solo on "A Sailor's Tale" is unlike anything I've ever heard on an electric guitar. The drumming is universally great.

With regard to the remixing and remastering on the fortieth anniversary edition, it seems to me to be very fine. Stephen Wilson of Porcupine Tree has handled all of the engineering here and while I am no fan of his music, his capacities as a technician are impressive. Graciously, the previous thirtieth anniversary version (as well as numerous bonus tracks) has been included in its entirety for comparison and the new version is much more dynamic and engaging.

I am not sure what has prmpted listeners to reject "Isalnds" over the years, but as far as I am concerned it is one of King Crimson's finest works and deserves more recognition than it gets. Any fan of the group owes it to themselves to pick up a copy at their earliest convenience.

The most underrated album of King Crimson

Frankly I prefer "Islands" to their previous two, "In the Wake of Poseidon"(which is virtually a photocopy of the first album at all, even the title) and "Lizards". It's an album very symphonic and lethargic in contrast to madness and aggression of the album follows the group's new incarnation

The first side is the weakest, with the exception of "Sailor's Tale, "which is a very good instrumental with the mark of King Crimson.

The second side is much higher. "Ladies of the Road" is a song misogyny and controversial but very entertaining, with nice use of sax. "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a very symphonic band, with horns, strings dominating mood.And finally have the title track, one of my favorite ever of band.Is true that it takes to gear, but until it reaches a climax we have Burrel's voice at its best accompanied by a cello and piano wonderful.Then music draws to a beautiful chorus, before everything is back to the beginning guided by an exceptional vocal trompete.After initial themes to be sung again, the music grows exceptionally-all instruments converge to a powerful climax, and we have a presence of unforgettable mellotron.The last three minutes are disposable, but if you want to wait one minute of silence more than two minutes of cacophony and voices, do it

You can understand why this album is so criticized.No there are moments of jazz-fusion of "Lizards" neither the power of tracks like "21st Century Schizoid Man".This is a sad album (perhaps the saddest of all that the band already did), pastoral, peaceful ... made for you relax.5 stars.

Whereas Lizard was King Crimson's jazziest album, Islands is arguably King Crimson's most classically influenced album, utilizing cellos, flutes, and other instruments of that sort. The music on this album is actually very lush and atmospheric, especially in the opener song "Formentera Lady", though the vocals often sound a bit off, and "Song of the Gulls" is entirely a classical composition. Also noticeable on this album is a profound folk influence which comes through greatly and combines fluidly with the classical influences. This album is usually regarded as unimportant in the early King Crimson catalog, but I think the sound on this album is great and I recommend it highly.

Islands ? 1971 (2.5/5) 9 ? Best Song: Don't ask me! I like King Crimson. That's not any statement of deep, revelatory meaning. I just like them, as opposed to saying how much I like Pet Sounds, but lament the existence of Surfin' USA. I don't 'like' the Beach Boys. What I mean to say is that I have a basic affinity for enjoying the brands of music this project is wont to create (usually experimental, quite diverse, and always, always professional), so we can safely say I'm biased half the time, but oft times I can't very well be biased and come out and say I truly enjoy a damn flop when anyone with ears can hear it's nowhere near the same epochal level as only a couple years before. I ain't gonna do that here. I will say I like Islands like I like synth pop. It's cool for a bit, but then I get tired. Islands, after following immediately after Lizard, makes me quite tired. They swap the members around some more, and it sounds even more bloated and pretentious (as if that aspect were even put into question). If anything, while Lizard was a sidelong epic, Islands is one complete song, only split into a few 'movements', which is sort of the opposite effect of Thick as a Brick, which was to record one full song, but have it constitute several different song like movements within the 44 minute running time. To say Islands is directionless is an understatement. Granted it is the highest order of purely directionless music, it is still relatively insubstantial. The saxes and flutes that howl over the first two tracks are mood-crafting, but when there's mood without soul, it's like watching a slasher film where nobody gets hurt. Where's the big emotional cash-in, boys? This is slow, ever slow, and they didn't give the melodies any room to grow (because they aren't really there). I condemn, but it's not as if the album is bad, only aimlessly mediocre.

One of the most misunderstood and misread albums in the history of prog rock (or, maybe THE MOST misread of all), Islands has to be regarded as one of the top 10 best of all time. And with no exaggeration. I was shocked of the extremely low rating this one has received in progarchives. Most of the reviewers try to grasp the framework of Islands according to a comparison with the earlier ones, or by somehow instaurating a kind of canon or identity (i.e. whats the style of King Crimson, how their music should averagely sound). The biggest problem of this pressupositions is that they actually forget two crucial things: 1) The meaning (simbolically speaking) of Progressive Rock, and 2) Its objectives or ambitions.

Of course, we all know that the significance of progressive rock has been historically instaurated by means of its "avant-garde" tendencies, of its impulse to generate a type of popular music that can synthesize (without any precipitations) and harmonize with "high culture" music, namely concert music and jazz. This, of course, keeps an intimate connection with the main ambitions of progressive rock, opening a wide range of creative and experimental options, and also challenging the musicians to transform their language with regularity.

If one draws a careful comparison of the first five albums of King Crimson (In the Court..., In the Wake..., Lizard, Islands and Larks'...) you can find an amazing transformation of musical levels only within 4 YEARS, an achievement that 99.7% of the prog rock/metal bands of today would only dream about (in their wildest dreams, of course). Moreover, a kind of musical direction that 80's rebirth-King Crimson never achieved.

In this precise sense, Islands becomes a statement: rock music is also an "art" form, it is not subjected to the dictatorship of commercial interest only because it is popular music directed to a massive audience.

So, given this, let's talk briefly of each of the songs, taking into consideration that every one of them is a highlight (oh yes). Formentera Lady is a calm-paced song that tries to introduce a new sound into King Crimson, one that designates a proportion between classical music (I'm talking about the period of musical history, not "classical music" as a whole entity) and rock (blues oriented rock, to be more specific). The interaction between instruments is smooth and almost orchestrated, with some variations and a couple of interesting signature changes. Sailor's Tale can be considered almost as one of the first "jazz/fusion" songs in the genre, with a main theme strongly inspired in Eirc Dolphy or Albert Ayler. Seven and a half minutes that pass us by like a pair of seconds, with exceptional and complex drumming and also an incredible and almost atonal guitar solo. The only thing I can say about The Letters is that its main theme (with the sax, trumpets, chorus guitar and synthesizers) is like a stroke of lightning through the body. The rest of the song is just great, it can be thought as a short rock version of Wagner's epic tragedies. Ladies Of The Road is the most rock-based song of the album. It goes on with a classic rocker progression that can make you think of Deep Purple and Jimi Hendrix combined, with an incredibly strong chorus influenced by and worth of the best and most famous tunes of The Beatles. Prelude: Song Of The Gulls is a very simple baroque composition that has a very beautiful main theme on the oboe, serving as a proper entrance for Islands (the song named as the album), one of the most beautiful songs in prog rock history. With a slow and tender pace carried on by the piano and the voice, it can be considered a twelve minute in crescendo that unfolds cornet, sax and flute melodies which carry and develop the nostalgic mood of the whole song. The cornet solo in the ending accompanied by the drums is just beautiful. And last (but not least at all) one cannot stop praising the poetically conceptualized lyrics, enormously inspiring until now and for generations to come.

I also strongly recommend the remastered version that includes 6 extra songs (studio run-throughs and remixes), becuase it contains a very cool prototype version of Lark's Tongues in Aspic Part 1 (the name of the song is A Peacemaking Stint Unrolls).

In synthesis, 3.72 of average for such a masterpiece is not injustice, it's plain obscenity.

Another somewhat muddled album from the chaos that engulfed the band following In the Court of the Crimson King, Islands features yet another almost entirely new lineup coalescing about the core of Robert Fripp and soon-to-be-released lyricist Peter Sinfield.

The major change from In the Wake of Poseidon or Lizard is that the Islands-era lineup had a chanced to spend a few months performing live concerts before they entered the studio to produce the album; indeed, the expansive Sailors' Tales boxed set of soundboard recordings from the era reveals that most of the songs here (aside from the title track and Song of the Gulls) had received extensive live workouts during the preceding tour, which allowed them to add extra refinement to them.

The album includes some fine tracks like the gentle and haunting title track or Formentera Lady, or the riotous and dark Sailor's Tale (which prefigures the musical direction which the band would soon embrace with Lark's Tongues, Starless and Red phase of their career, though with a somewhat jazzy tone to it - at points it feels like something that Zappa and the Mothers might have turned out in their more serious moments). The Letters, whilst I'm not quite so fond of it, has grown on me over time, as has the classical piece Song of the Gulls - the latter still feels a bit like filler, but it's unobjectionable and makes a nice intro to Islands.

At the same time, whilst the album has grown on me - and the new mix by Fripp and Steven Wilson teases out some of its best aspects - I'm still not keen on Ladies of the Road. You may or may not consider it sexist (I personally do), but it's hard to deny that it's incredibly cliched, the lyrical subject matter tackling the tired-out old subject of groupie sex (Zappa and the Mothers did it better on Fillmore East) and the musical backing being completely forgettable.

The next studio album would see Fripp abandon all efforts to recreate the success of In the Court of the Crimson King and abandon the symphonic prog field entirely, pioneering a new, angular, heavy direction in progressive music and finally regaining the status of creative visionary and spawner of genres that he briefly attained in 1969; as such, Islands has been overshadowed somewhat over the years. The improved recent mix proves to be a big help in discovering a new appreciation for the material.

This one gets five stars. It's flawed but essential for fans of "prog" rock; I believe the theme of the album is human flaw. Islands is flawed by pretention, mostly due to the words, as all Crimson records are; Crimson have made it their stock in trade. But Islands spirit of adventure, truly innovative moments and cloudy, depressive mood make it a very unique, daring and evocative record. It's my favorite for it's lonely vibe and humanity. It's mostly acoustic, but not what one would normally associate with "acoustic" music, no folksy strumming or horrid Riverdance jive. Crimson took a left turn with Islands and rabid fans of the first album were thrown for a loop as the album starts with a squeaky bowed acoustic bass solo, something you might hear in the middle of Pharoah Sanders' Thembi, lots of bells, shakers and ostinato bass figures. Lester Bangs said King Crimson wants you to think they're strange, but not as weird as their fans would like to think. Yes, they do insist on being far-out at all times, but these tendencies are part of the charm and force them into unchartered territory. This record has a relentlessly dark mood. New Crimson vocalist and bassist Boz sings softly of Spanish women and crusty old Moorish casas. Fripp's oddball acoustic guitar rhythm comping and Paula Lucas' meandering female soprano make a strange brew on this opener, Formentera Lady. Lady segues into Sailor's Tale, featuring another ostinato bass figure with Fripp's blistering guitar tone and squalling, consistently fabulous sax playing by the swinging and fluent Mel Collins. (I hear much Pharoah Sanders influence here, although this is intellectual white Englishman's music without the swing of American jazz like Coltane and Sanders) Tale's middle section features a chewy, jazzy all-chord rhythym solo that sounds like an electric rubber banjo. The Letter, marred by a pretentious lyric but balanced by pretentious but interesting music that somehow seems right, has a successful free jazz midsection that starts lyrically and builds to a frenzy. Ladies of the Road is a sleazy slowburn rocker with great sounding Beatle-ish vocal harmonies and bawdy strip-lounge tenor sax, and yes, pretentious lyrics, well sung. Prelude: Song of the Gulls is an authentic small chamber piece with oboe, no guitar, bass, drums or sax. It's a waltz, played well by studio players, slightly banal but it does indeed conjure the rugged feel of the cliffs on the English Channel. The lengthy last song, Islands, has slow building distant drums, a raw, medieval pump organ, slighly out of tune piano and speech-like cornet phrases. The song is about distance and isolation, learing to accept loneliness and craziness. Keith Tippett's piano is lovely throughout the album, his ripples and blocky phrasing always adding a human element to Crimson. Islands is the antithesis to the later Belew Crimson that was "danceable" and processed, now with the date stamp, "best if consumed before 1984." Islands is an odd and human record but it's the one that has lasted. Buy it and play it a few times. It may take a while to appreciate as do most good things that resist one's instant grasp.

6/10

'Islands' is a mellow ride that shouldn't be negatively compared with the other KC works.

King Crimson give with 'Islands' an album that is not disappointing, it actually is quite enjoyable, but nothing that really impressed anybody: it was and still is an adventurous, emotional, and quite experimental album, however it was greatly shadowed by all the great KC releases prior to this one ('In the Court of the Crimson King' in primis): the same story will apply with many other Crimson albums, however some managed to be so fiercely creative that comparisons to the debut were brought up ('Larks Tounges In Aspic').

'Islands' has a very mellow feeling to it compared to other releases: it is a relatively more peaceful, relaxing work that even when it has cheerfulness, it is toned down nevertheless. The musicianship as a result is also a little quiet, never going over the top, however silently going towards new small horizons. It is a bit adventurous in some points, but never to the point where anything sounds epic. The instrumentation is anyway much broader, where there is featured not only tons of violin, one of the main traits of the album's sound, but also flutes (as always), interesting bass lines, good vocals by Boz Burrell, and of course Robert Fripp is still playing guitar and mellotron played by Mel Collins or Robert Fripp himself. Together, along with lyricist Peter Seinfeld, they produce this nice little gem that is too many times under appreciated.

On the lyrical point of view, the lyrics seem to be about women and love, whether it be a romantic type of love, or more sexual ('Ladies On The Road' perhaps?), or simply a hymn to a Muse-like woman. In this way the atmosphere of the album is extremely accurate, and along with the music these songs have a fascinating mood that no other King Crimson album has.

There are the extremely mellow and relaxing songs here that almost have a New Age feel, like the opening ten minute track 'Formentera Lady' in all it's beauty, or the more minimalistic 'A Letter'. 'Prelude: Song Of The Gulls' is a beautiful instrumental that features as it's main attraction this gorgeous violin that makes the track possibly the most touching of the LP. The more enlivened moments are not absent: 'A Sailor's Tail' is much more active and presents great musicianship, just like 'Ladies Of The Road' is a cheerful, fun song that is always enjoyable. The title track is a sort of mix between slight agitation and complete mellowness: this proves how all the songs are covered by the same veil, as there is never any moment that is completely out there, everything is sort of safe, even though the boundaries are very wide.

An album not everybody would like immediately because possibly of it's negative comparisons with other KC work. If seen independently, though, this is a great little piece of art that shouldn't be judged as negatively as it is. It's mellow nature can easily bring the listener into another, beautiful world, and for those 43 minutes, it's not a bad ride.

One of the albums I have been struggling like mad with. I am both truly and duly frustrated by Islands.

Robert Fripp and his incantation of King Crimson has gone down the pastoral route on Islands. Or perhaps I should call King Crimson a chamber orchestra on Islands. That is what they feels like and chamber rock is what the music feels like here. Understated and introvert. The songs are difficult to grapple.

Listening to this album is therefore like peeling an onion. Always new layers, but I am not sure if I should start the frying & eat this onion now or I should wait a couple of years.

Chamber rock it is and the band is very introvert on this album. The quality is there and this album never gets boring. But this is not a great album in my view. Although I will continue the peeling though. But my verdict tonight is three stars.

3 stars

In 1971, King Crimson finally got it together and had another touring band. Fripp, Collins, Sinfield return with newbies Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace and guests Keith Tippet, Paulina Lucas, Harry and Robin Miller and Mark Charig This resulted in their only album together Islands. This is a very interesting album and is a black sheep in KC's catalog.

Formentera Lady: Starts out with a very menacing deep double bass sound which plays the main melody of the song. Then Boz on vocals comes in and then it all starts. It's not very rock it's more a soft jazzy piece relying heavily on reeds and pianos and strings. It is still good nearing the end with a wordless vocal from Paulina Lucas and goes right into...

Sailor's Tale: Starts with a ride cymbal pattern from Ian Wallace and kicks in the whole band. They all perform very well here and this song has a lot of Fripp in it with his guitar solo mid song that works well and this became a live classic IMO

The Letters: Starts out soft and slow (like most of the songs) and then kicks in this kinda dated guitar sound from Fripp and duels with Collins on Sax for a bit and it works well but doesn't last long enough. Not a bad song but probably my least favorite of this album

Ladies of the Road: Kinda straight ahead rock (for King Crimson standards) about groupies and has been criticized for misogyny. I enjoy this song and like to sing along and not many KC songs can you do that. Has actual "hit" potential but glad it didn't. Prelude-Song of the Gulls: Not Prog, Not Rock just a classical piece and is impressive. Works well and is a good Prelude(ha) for the title track.

Islands: Stars with Piano from Keith Tippet. I wished he stayed with the band longer he was really good. It has a soft jazzy classical feel to it the whole time. It almost sounds like a death march at times. It climaxes with a powerful solo from Mel Collins and is very powerful and ends with about a minute of dead air and then a hidden track of chatter and Fripp saying "It has a number of high spots that I enjoy, What we're gonna do, do it twice more once with the oboe, once without it and we finish." Then the string section warms up and ends the album.

Overall, it is very soft and more quiet in tone compared to other KC releases but I do enjoy this album. It took me some time to do so but it was worth it. Nice to relax to. 4 Stars. Highlights: Formentera Lady, Sailor's Tale, Ladies of the Road and Islands.

King Crimson's "Islands" was an album sandwiched in between "Lizard" and "Lark's Tongues In Aspic", both excellent examples of eclectic prog with the band at their best. "Islands" did not have that big an impact on me for some reason, and I think it is mainly down to the very ambient and dreamy atmosphere that pervades the album. It is so tranquil it could put one to sleep. There is little diversity and it is frustrating as the band meander and fiddle about lost in their own musical world. It has none of the dissonant atonal jazz spasms of previous albums, and even Fripp's guitar work is not outstanding or memorable.

King Crimson are always capable of incredible musicianship and there are passages of brilliance on the album as always but it is uneven, very inconsistent and some of the tracks are far too long and drawn out for their own good. The highlights are undoubtedly parts of 'Formentera Lady', 'Sailor's Tale' and 'Ladies of the Road', despite the bombastic approach to the lyrics, based on the exploits of the roadies. These tracks have wound up on compilations over the years and have rather catchy melodies and some very good musicianship.

Some of the lowlights for me are the forgettable 'The Letters', and the flute drenched dreamscapes of 'Prelude: Song Of The Gulls' which is pretty and sweet but after a few listens sounds more like a flute concerto at a recital and I have never been interested in this style. Likewise, the mini epic 'Islands' is very slow and meandering and did not jump out as a King Crimson classic. The band feel more restrained and have removed the heaviness of the sound to replace it with a very temperate tranquil atmosphere. It feels more like background music than essential prog. it was an endurance test to get through it and I could not wait till it was over. The tacked on musical rehearsal banter at the end though was quite amusing.

This was a disappointing album in every respect, and very forgettable by the Crims standards. I have every thing King Crimson recorded in the studio, and this is their lowest point. Certainly it is the least rewarding with tepid diluted soft music that never builds into anything dynamic or innovative. The music is well-played but it simply is not the wild erratic style that drew me to the band who can produce excellent musicality. 'Islands' has its fans of course but it does not hold a candle to their other masterpieces and newcomers to the group should try this only after hearing at least the first 3 albums. Nevertheless, due to the pleasant virtuoso musicianship, "Islands" still deserves at least 3 stars to be fair.

There is a lot of fine mighty prog rock energy and dreaminess throughout the record. 'Sailor's Tale' is really impressive, with that solid tacky groove that feels very natural, the electrifying and elaborate guitar work, and the thing that I usually would expect from the Mellotron - the storm-like sound of the strings on tape. 'Ladies of the Road' is just downright mad and schizophrenic. The band really rocks - a thing I would usually expect from the Crims because the song is very groovy and Robert Fripp's guitar probably has never been so nasty and aggressive before. The soft side of the song is just so out-there-kind-of-dreamy, addictive, pretty, and sweet that it really gives some musical "flowers", if you know what I mean, but the word "imaginative" would be just perfect. Who said that Boz Burrell is a terrible singer? So, don't mind Pete Sinfield's occasional tastelessness and enjoy the musical romp on this song.

Every time I hear 'Prelude - The Song of the Gulls', I feel myself like a complete classical music dummy because I don't know who it was inspired by. Tchaikovsky? Ravel? I don't know. The reason this question is relevant is because I like the overtones of the instruments and the melodies featured on that instrumental, and I would really like to hear more stuff like that.

Along comes the enamoring epic title track where every second needs to be absorbed. The lyrics are very enthralling and the music is very digestible because it's melodic, or, in general, tastefully done. Compared to 'Prelude', this track possesses more of that depth of intimacy and demonstrates that Robert Fripp & Co. can still put together something other than just classical music. The saxophone and the Mellotron on the whole track, as well as the organ in the end (or is it organ?) provide us with the peak moments on this composition (or song, if you will).

There was one thing that I actually liked about 'Formentera Lady' - the slightly erratic acoustic guitar work with heavy syncopation somewhere near the end of the track. You might find something else to this improvisation (or song, again, if you will). 'The Letters' sounds strange. I do enjoy a few instrumental moments on it that give this track a contrast in texture, but I already decided for myself which track is better: 'Sailor's Tale' or this one.

Overall, this is a four-star experience because there is not much originality to this album, there is a hint of sexism, and there is quite a lot of filler. But four stars is probably the least I can do. This work deserves 4.5 stars maximum.

Ratings/comments (if you have to ask):

1. 'Formentera Lady' - **

2. 'Sailor's Tale' - *****

3. 'The Letters' - **

4. 'Ladies of the Road' - *****

5. 'Prelude ? Song of the Gulls' - ****

6. 'Islands' - *****

Stamp: "I like it."

One more shot from an ever changing King Crimson line-up, before Robert Fripp finally decided to blow the whole thing up, and start from scratch.

It was far from the end for KC, but maybe the reason the quality of music on their first four albums never seemed have much consistency, is due to the ever-changing lineup. Although Fripp did the majority of the writing, it was never the same band twice. If you don't know what tools you're working with, it's hard to build with them.

That being said, there wasn't a bad apple in the bunch. Islands, like its predecessors, is full of great music, but it doesn't always use that music to its full potential. "Formentera Lady" is a fine example of this, as it moves seamlessly from atmospheric string piece to jazz-influenced jam. But the ending tediously drags out, before eventually segueing into "Sailor's Tale". The second track is one of the most cohesive on the album. It flails around wildly, but through each loud and quiet section, it never ceases to entertain. "The Letters" and "Ladies of the Road" bounce up and down in intensity as well, but by the end of these two tracks, this standard formula for Islands becomes tiresome.

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" switches things up at this point. It begins quiet?and stays quiet. Somehow, it really works though. This is what makes Islands stand out. "Prelude" and the title track, are really beautiful songs. King Crimson? Beautiful? Fripp shows us an emotionally touching side that we haven't seen to this point. It was as if he knew this would be the end of an era (in particular the working partnership with Peter Sinfield), and was playing the swansong.

Islands is not the best Crimson album so far, but it makes for an (almost) ideal ending. One that would be very difficult to follow up?

"Islands" is one of the most polarizing and esoteric KC albums for sure. I found it to reveal its strengths after repeated listens. The sounds throughout are often soft and reflective. "Formentera Lady" for instance, starts off beautifully with interesting flute, piano and string flourishes. The lyrics are great too. The album isn't short of edge either. The crunchy guitar and Mellotron on "Salior's Tale" sound quite ominous at times. I like the sax work on this album as well, but listeners may find that parts of it tend to meander in places. Despite the uneveness, there is some downright spellbinding music here. There are some nice surprises too. "Ladies of The Road" is a bit of an oddball, but quite intriguing with its Beatlesque harmonies and sleazy Rolling Stones-styled lyrics. My favourite piece of all is the introspective title track. I rate this the same as the album "Lizard": Three and a half stars. Very good album.

This is one of those few albums that represent music in a way that cannot be surpassed. This is not only a prog-rock album, it is a masterpiece, musically, lyrically and hermeneutically.

The coherence of this album, coupled with the very-human approach of creating music, give us one of the most well composed and performed pieces ever. This one is not about concepts, narratives or character building. This one is about images through music.

"Islands", a very expressive musical be-ing, enters a sphere rarely touched by twentieth century albums. I think that only "Bitches Brew", "Storm Corrosion" and VDGG's "Still Life" managed to approach music in such a way. So much Rilke, with a bit of Pessoa. So much C.D. Friedrich, with a scent of Rothko.

Brilliant!

It was always a point of some concern for me that I was not as familiar with King Crimson's discography as I was with some of the other so called "classic" bands of progressive rock. About a year ago, I set out slowly collecting and listening to their albums, and while that undertaking is far from complete, there was one album that almost from the first listen lodged itself firmly in my musical consciousness.

Surprisngly, though, it wasn't Red or Lark's Tongues In Aspic or even In the Court of the Crimson King. While those are all of course excellent albums, none of them grabbed me in the way that this one did. Islands sounds tremendously different to me than most other Crimson albums, with a restrained, jazzy sound that I haven't again encountered in my voyages through their discography. Furthermore, despite the rather mixed response that this album has received (especially in comparison to many of those above), it is my opinion that this album is no less than a masterpiece, with the drastic differentness in style serving only as a boon to its charm. Every moment of this album feels perfectly put together, with nary a note out of place or a flaw in composition or performance. Islands is a stellar album that shows a side of King Crimson which was never fully realized before this release and was (unfortunately, in my opinion) never seen again after.

Before I go further, I'll note that I have the 40th anniversary edition. I don't have the original so I can't compare, but I'll certainly say that I have no complaints about the sound of this version of the album.

"Formentera Lady" begins the album with some low, rumbling, almost grating strings before delicate piano and flute enter as well. As album introductions go, this is about as far from the crashing of "21st Century Schizoid Man" as you can get, but it's equally effective in establishing an idea of what the album is going to sound like: where In The Court surged forward, brash and bold and ignoring consequences, Islands will be a more meditative affair, soft and deliberate and far more content to sit back and let the music develop rather than let it all burst forth at once. The vocals show this distinction as well; rather than distorted wails courtesy of Greg Lake, we get the far more restrained croonings of Boz Burrell. In fact, everything about the song feels restrained-but certainly not in a bad way. Melodies intertwine and develop in a way that feels incredibly organic while at the same time pain- stakingly deliberate. Of course, the quirkiness of playing that always appears on King Crimson albums is available here in spades; with a huge variety of instruments and of course stellar performances on all backing up the lyrics. An amazing composition and a great opener.

The instrumental "Sailor's Tale" starts with some minimalistic percussion before an extremely jazzy bass and horn line enter. Mel Collins demonstrates his amazing chops on the saxophone, freaking out on his instrument like a madman before the track falls into a different theme, this time dominated by Fripp's guitar. There's a bit of jazzy jamming (if you can even call something this tight jamming) before the track again changes course, launching into a heavier, darker section dominated by string sounds and some furious bass and percussion. Intensity builds going into the last minute before falling off to an ominous, low rumble that slowly fades out as the track concludes.

"The Letters" is, in my opinion, one of King Crimson's most intense songs. This intensity, however, comes not from any kind of sheer driving force such as could be found on "21st Century Schizoid Man." Rather, it explores the vein that Crimson would return to on "Starless," creating a somber, menacing atmosphere over which restrained but powerful vocals are free to lurk. This atmosphere is juxtaposed with a definitely jazzy section in the middle of the track, with more stellar Sax playing courtesy of Mr. Collins and of course stellar support by everyone else as well. The song returns to its original mode with the (perhaps infamous) wailed lyric "Impaled on nails of ice" which manages to come off sounding appropriately sinister but manages to toe the fine line between drama and melodrama, coming off fortunately on the side of the former. From there the track fades out to nothing, leaving the listener with a sense of mystery and unease that works brilliantly within the flow of the album.

"Ladies of the Road" again allows vocals to come to center stage, with a slinky, bass-driven melody and perfect lyrical delivery. The saxophone is again a highlight, laying down some wonderfully raw solos and managing to drive itself into the listener's memory despite its relatively spare use. Interestingly, all of this is contrasted against the chorus, which makes use of a much lighter atmosphere and almost Beatles-esque vocal harmonies. A stellar guitar solo from Fripp followed by an equally blistering sax outing by Collins are the final pieces in the puzzle, and "Ladies of the Road," if not an epic like the opener or closer, ends up being a remarkably satisfying, eclectic track that only adds to the album.

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is the album's second instrumental, and it sees the group trying out a much more classical style, with orchestral strings and airy flute weaving wonderful melodies together. It's really very impressive how many different styles the band was able to put together on this album without losing any sense of cohesion, and "Song of the Gulls" certainly serves to highlight that fact. Besides that, of course, it's very beautiful in its own right, and it serves as a wonderful prelude to the album's final track.

That is, of course, the titular closer, and what a closer it is. I would argue that "Islands" is one of if not the most beautiful King Crimson songs ever written, with emotive vocals and a plaintive piano part that all but tears your heart out as you listen to it. There are no instrumental gymnastics here, but the song is no way lacking for it: despite the fact that it makes use of more or less the same motif throughout its 10 minute length, it's developed so beautifully that it's impossible to find a dull moment in the song. I really can't stress enough just how "put-together" everything sounds-"Islands" finds King Crimson more nuanced then they've ever been before. Though "Starless" may be held up as the quintessential Crimson song, in my mind this one is just as good, and it's an amazing closer to what has become my favorite King Crimson album.

I don't know if there's much more I can say about the album other than what's written above, but I really just want to stress the near-perfect cohesion of this release. There is not one single moment that feels forced or out of place, not a single decision that makes me think "I wish they had done that differently." This is one of those rare albums that seems to me to be perfect exactly as it is, and if that's not deserving of a perfect rating then I don't know what is.

5/5

Hey all in prog land, time for yet another prog review. What's on tap to review? Well, as you can see from your screen, it is none other than "Islands" by the great Crimson King. Some of the background to it, it is the fourth studio album, released in 1971 and once again new musicians came in (musicians have come and gone out of King Crimson so much that it is hard to pinpoint who is who on an album lol). Most notably, the following happened: Gordon Haskell was replaced by Boz Burrell (he actually played bass for Bad Company for a bit I believe) and Andy McCulloch was replaced by Ian Wallace on the drums. Any ideas as to why this happened?? Well, Haskell and McCulloch did not really like the previous album (Lizard) so they jumped ship. Fripp had to find new people to play in his band. Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace were up for the task so they joined the band. Enough of the background huh? On to the review of Islands by King Crimson.

1) Formentera Lady - An interesting way to start the album. It has some really good bits but I feel this could have been done a lot better. The lady's singing at the end of the piece is so cringe worthy that it makes it rather unlistenable for me (maybe it was intended to be that way??). I don't really like the ending at all. 7/10

2) Sailor's Tale - This is the best thing on the albumn both from an artistic and experimental perspective. It's quite interesting, this is experimentation done right (Fripp's guitar work is rather insane on here, unlike anything I have heard). 10/10

3) The Letters - Unfortunately this one does not really do much for me. It's a rather forgettable track. Was Burrell trying to imitate Peter Hamill here?? 6/10

4) Ladies of the Road - This one sounds very much like the Beatles to me (whatever happened to King Crimson doing things out of left field??) but unlike the Beatles it's really not that good. The lyrics are absolute trash ("I smiled and just unzipped her? Wtf??")and so is the music. It makes me cringe. "Ladies of the roadd"(cringes). Uggh, disgusting. 2/10

5) Prelude: Song of the Gulls - This classical inspired piece is ok but I feel it just doesn't belong on the album. It feels out of place. 7/10

6) Islands - This one is actually a pretty darn good jazzy piece with some straight lush. Only one complaint, I could do without the ending. I hate it when bands let the recording continue when they are done playing (it's rather annoying). 8/10

Overall, Islands by King Crimson is yet another decent album with some forgettable (The Letters), some atrocious (Ladies of the Road) and some fluff (Song of the Gulls). it's not as experimental as Lizard but it's also not as messy as that one. Yet another album by the great Crimson King that is just ok for me ( ayy, that's 4 albums in a row). Yet another 3 stars! Peace out!

For Crimheads only and i know Crimheads that have avoided this album.

I love Crimson but this album is weak. This this the fourth album and the fourth line-up of Crimson.The constant changes really start to wear thin on this album as Robert Fripp was desperately trying to recapture the glory of the first line-up. Peter Sinfield's lyrics also take a step back. There is a lack of coherent ideas and a deficient sound overall. This is due to the fact that they really didn't have a bassist. So what do they do? They decided to give Boz Burrell some quick lessons on the instrument. (Boz Burrell actually became a decent bassist for Bad Company) This leaves Ian Wallace to lighten his approach. The album has a spacey, airy feel. Not that this is a bad thing, but its light and airy feel is a consequence of the minimalized rhythm section and the material doesn't suit it. To me the high points are the end of Formentara Lady and the entire Sailors Tale. The Letters is a poor remake of an older KC song called "Drop In" which was a lot better. "Ladies of the Road" could be good with a better rhythm section. Parts of this song sound like a band that is just starting out in a garage somewhere. Song of the Gulls is a nice piece but Islands is terrible. A simple song stretched over 11 minutes containing a dismal cornet solo reprising the verse.

This album came after the overdone Lizard. This one is the exact opposite. Half baked. If you are new to Crimson don't start with this one!

Peter Sinfield is a misogynist ?

With Gordon Haskell and Andy McCullogh gone, the consistant trio has to find two more members. They are Boz Burrell (future Bad Company ? bassist) and Ian Wallace. This results in an non- organized mish-mash that if it wasn't for the two last tracks, I would've forgotten this album.

Formentera Lady is a song that goes nowhere, including very dissonant strings and winds. A song that tries to be beautiful, but fails miserably. It is the same thing for ten minutes.

Sailor's Tale is better, including excellent drumming from the new guy. An excellent polyrythymic structure. But ends badly.

The Letters starts very softly, but in the middle of the song, is cacophonic, and in the end has the same chord progression than in the beginning. Progressive.

Ladies of The Road is as bad as the first song. It is KC's attempt at being popular that dosen't work. So, King Crimson isn't a pop band.

Prelude: Song of the Gulls is beautiful. Finally a track on this album that is great and not cacophonic. Excellent melody, excellent background. Perfect.

Islands is very beautiful. It is unlike anything in the King Crimson discography. Excellent new age music.

After this album, not only the rythym section is gone, but Mel Collins and Peter Sinefield are also gone so Robert Fripp has to answer this difficult question: Is King Crimson dead ? **To Be Continued** My Grade: B-

"Islands" was my second King Crimson album. Being a mere teenager I felt both terrified and confused when I put it on. The music was nothing like I had expected, being a huge fan of their debut. The cover of "Islands" is and was stunning in it's simplicity, yet the music seemed disconnected and everywhere. The only thing I truly enjoyed was the singer screaming "Impaled on nails of ice...". Being a fan of Sabbath I thought it to be kind of cool lyrics. I put the album on hold, discarding it everytime I talked of Crimson, even wondering why anyone would be so stupid as to buy the bloody thing at all. Years later I came crawling back, with my head hanging from shame and publically announcing my arrogant ignorance of the yesteryears.

Actually, "Islands" is on of my favorite Crimson albums. I find it to be both inspired and a progression from the previous efforts. One thing I have to admit is that I am really only a fan of Crimson's first four or five albums, due to it's dreamy, fairytale atmospheres. The remaining albums I dig, but not to that extent as with the first, say, five efforts. "Islands" is as far as I'm concerned the last gasp of the debut and the sound of the first phase of the band. The fairytale dreaminess is still there but the music is somewhat edgier, harder and different than before. I am not saying that previous albums lacked the hard rock influence, because I don't. It was always evident, still it comes to the fore in a different way on "Islands", though in a more disjointed fashion.

Apart from "Ladies of the road" (which is good but really nothing more) the tracks are really enthralling and captivating. The british prog sound is there, along with the dreamy textures and spaciuos atmosphere. The music captivates my imagination and flows like a river through my body, producing pictures and emotions like all the best of Crimson's music. It is magical in places. The crown jewels of the album is "Prelude: Song of the gulls" and "Islands". These two tracks (really one massive piece) ranks among the best Crimson ever made. They are pure magic. The music is so relaxing it is ridiciolous and without ever becoming a kind of noodling new age-nonsense which goes nowhere. Brilliance!

"Islands" is a great album and one of Crimson's best, maybe only surpassed by the debut and "In the wake of Poseidon".

Another year, another line-up, another album, another style for Robert Fripp and King Crimson to tinker with.

After the Lizard lineup fizzled with the departure of Gordon Haskell and Andy McCulloch, Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace were brought in to fill in on bass/vocals and drums respectively. Burrell and Wallace aren't terrible by any means, but they're underused for the most part. Wallace's drumming is kind of standard (though from I've heard, his drumming on the band's live performances have a bit more punch), though I don't think an aggressive style would have fit on most of these tracks. The same can be said with Burrell's bass playing - as for his singing, he's a step up above Haskell and could easily pull off the old and new material when the band finally went back on the road.

For this album, Fripp decides to dial back on the weirdness the permeated Lizard and go for a calmer, lounge jazz type of sound, with Keith Tippet and his crew returning to contribute to the opening and closing tracks of the album. Not surprisingly, this type of direction would rub the wrong way with some listeners and critics, not to mention the band members themselves. Like Lizard, it's not an album that's praised among the critics I like to visit, but given my fondness for the album, it leaves me scratching my head on how this is considered another dud. Oh well.

The opening "Formentera Lady" effectively sets the mood for the album. I like the intro to this one, it sounds like something from the original Star Trek (1) and the song portion is quite good, with Tippet and Fripp delivering some tasty piano and acoustic guitar lines. For the second half, Fripp appears to have taken some inspiration from his production of Centipede's Septober Energy, incorporating bells, violins, random acoustic guitar, saxophone and vocalizations. Some say it drags, but I've heard worse in that department (including the aforementioned Septober Energy); at least the above elements keep things interesting. Sinfield's lyrics about a stroll on the island of Formentera are decent and Burrell singing is pretty nice.

After the final wails and chimes, the song then segues into the more energetic "Sailor's Tale". It's not as aggressive as most other Crim rockers, but at least the band successfully builds an aura of tension around it, particularly Mel Collins' saxophone freak out in the start and Fripp's guitar in the middle, where it punctuates the eerily quiet portion of the piece, like a bolt of lightning briefly turning night into day. The ending has the band abruptly returning to the main theme from the start and the band builds and builds, with Wallace's drumming becoming slightly more agitated, the humming of a synth (mellotron? VCS3? I'm not too sure) rapidly growing louder, like an oncoming storm threatening to overtake a ship (probably why the song is called "Sailor's Tale"). Just as the cacophony is about to overtake the listener, it stops and Fripp's guitar sends the whole thing into a free fall, ending with a distant, haunting synth rumble.

"The Letters" was based on the Court-era song "Drop In", and has the band going into some of neat beatnik jazz, going from quiet guitar into stomping blues as the piece progresses. The music is good, but I can't say the same for the lyrics, sounding like something you would read in a third rate romance novel. I wish Fripp had kept his original "Drop In" lyrics for this one, which would have fit the music much better.

The slightly misogynistic groupie tribute "Ladies Of The Road" opens the second side. (2) Burrell's voice is at his most aggressive and Collins and Fripp deliver some delightfully raunchy solos. Blues was never King Crimson's specialty, but when they dove into the genre, they've shown to be quite capable and this song is no exception. They even manage to throw in a little twist with the slightly carnival-esque bridge that sounds a bit like Queen.

In yet another curve ball, the next song, "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls", doesn't feature the main band at all, but a string quartet and Robert Miller on oboe during a classical rearrangement of the second part of Fripp's Giles, Giles & Fripp era composition "Suite No. 1". It's kind of weird that the rest of the main band didn't participate, but with Fripp, stuff like this is to be expected. At least he manages to successfully give the tune a new arrangement and fully flesh out the piece. The results are quite beautiful.

The somber mood continues on with the title track. I agree with John McFerrin's (aka Tarkus1980) view that this is an excellent pre-bedtime ballad, but my impression of "Islands" is somewhat darker and more depressing; whenever I listen to this one, I sometimes look at the album cover full of stars and feel how isolated we are and, given the vast distances, man will never travel to those little islands of light, at least nowhere near our lifetimes (not to mention the whole thing with the Sun expanding and frying the Earth into a crisp several billion years from now). If you're not interested in philosophizing, at least the music is nice, going from piano to harmonium to mellotron, while Burrell delicately delivers Sinfield's lyrics (probably the best on the album) of island metaphors. Chraig's horn is a nice touch, especially the triumphant solo at the end. It's a very beautiful way to close the album. Oh and there's a clip of Fripp giving the "Gulls" orchestra some instructions about a minute after the album proper ends.

Judging by my rating, I admit I'm probably being a little too enthusiastic about this one, but I can't rate this one lower than Court, especially with the whole "Moonchild" thing. On the other hand, I can see where some might have a problem with this. It's certainly the most low-key of Crimson's output, but at least it's not boring, at least to me.

Final rating: 4/5

Personal favorites: "Formentera Lady", "Sailor's Tale", "Ladies Of The Road", "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls", "Islands"

Personal dislikes: none

Notes:

1. A bit of Trekkie trivia: The nebula shown on the album cover is the same one shown in the Star Trek: The Original Series episode "The Alternative Factor" whenever Lazarus has one of his freak outs.

2. On a personal note, I find it amusing that a lot of critics would disapprove of this song's lyrics, yet have no problems when The Rolling Stones do similar stuff on a similar level with their lyrics. Granted, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were better at writing about this type of subject, but I still find it funny.

Wow, the reviews for this one are all over the place. It was not very well received by most reviewers when it was released, and here in the Archives, the reviews are really mixed. Personally, I love the album, maybe it's not as good as the first 2 albums, but it's close, and it is better than "Lizard" (except for the amazing title track) which was ruined by the worst vocalist hired by Fripp. Thank goodness they had Jon Anderson sing part of the epic title track, and even Haskell did a decent job on his part of that track.

For "Islands", Boz Burell was hired on as vocalist and as bass guitarist. At least he is a better singer, more dynamic, but still far from the best. Apparently, Boz wasn't that good of a bass guitar player when he was brought into KC, at least not as good as Fripp thought he was when he hired him on, but instead of searching for someone else, Fripp worked one on one with him, and got him up to snuff. The band however, pretty much had decided to all go their own separate ways after this record was finished, but they afterward agreed to stay together at least until the tour was over. The tour must have gone well because they all decided to tell Fripp that they were going to remain with him, but Fripp had already moved on. Burell of course, went on to help form Bad Company and ended up in a good way for that.

So, for this album....it is not quite as chaotic and crazy as the previous efforts, it is more mellow for the most part, but don't let that fool you because it is quite a study in contrasts. You have to be careful with this one because you will turn up the volume to hear the minimal and quiet sections, but you'll suddenly be blown away by bursts of heaviness coming from either the brass or the guitar, so be ready. That, to me, is what makes this album so unique compared to their others, the dynamics are amazing here, but it can get rather quiet, and those bursts can be quite surprising, but they are very effective. Better control over these bursts in loudness will happen on later albums though. Dynamics will be handled better, but in the meantime, that doesn't make this a bad album, not at all. I kind of like the surprises hidden throughout this album.

"Formentera Lady" is a 10 minute track that is quite mellow all the way through. It is quite a well composed song for being so soft and pensive, but there is plenty to keep it interesting. Towards the end, Boz improvises with wordless vocals and his voice goes soaring off into places it probably shouldn't have, but it does kind of add to the psychedelia of the piece anyway. At the end of the track, you hear the click-ity click of the cymbal as the next track "Sailor's Tale" takes over, and it suddenly jumps right onto the previous track in a sudden contrast of sounds. This is a completely instrumental track in 3 distinct parts. The first part is a bit reminiscent of "...Schizoid Man" and concentrates on strings in a wild frenzy of sound. After this the track changes to a new harder rhythm and you get crazy strumming and guitar sounds being coaxed out of Fripp's guitar. I love the intensity here, and it builds into beautiful chaotic heaviness. The last section concentrates on the mellotron, but even then, the intensity doesn't give in at all and this works out very well overall. This is a masterpiece of a track and on any other album, the piece would have gotten the recognition it deserves. After this is a vocal track called "The Letters" which is one of the studies of contrasts that I was talking about. It starts out almost folky and barely discernible with a slight build, but not much. Even with me telling you that the sax is going to come in a blow out your speakers, you still won't be ready for how truly intense and how "opposite" this sound is to what you had been hearing. Dissonant sax from Collins will melt your eardrums if your not careful. I'm warning you in advance, so be ready.

"Ladies of the Road" comes next, and despite the x rated lyrics, it's still a better composed song than the previous one, even though it is quite similar, that crazy contrast is there again, dissonance, short bursts of chaotic beauty from the sax mostly, but still far from being avant garde, more like a warped jazz than anything. The next track is "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" and continuing in the contrast theme, this one is an extremely beautiful track all instrumental and all strings. I mean this is so stunningly lovely that it might bring a tear to your eye, quite the opposite from the previous track. The last track is another long track and is the title track "Islands" This one is once again quite mellow like the first track, but with a more traditional sounding melody, one that is easy to pick up quite quickly. The vocals are soft and the instruments are mellow and consist of flutes and guitars and keys etc. but is more of a pastoral sound. The music does build a bit and becomes fuller, but the main feeling stays throughout the song. It has a lovely and understated climax.

I imagine many KC listeners were a little disappointed with this album because it doesn't contain as much substance in the way of hard sounds like previous endeavors, this album still concentrates on contrast, but relies more on the softer side of things. But this also brings your attention to the complexity of KC's music and the harsh passages are even more harsh when contrasted to the minimalism of the album. I can easily give this one 4 stars and feel good about it, because I still appreciate the music and the sound and I could easily consider it's highest points (namely "Sailor's Tale" and "Song of the Gulls" with "Ladies of the Road" being a runner-up) as some of KC's best music. It is overall quite an under rated album, and unfortunately one that gets ignored because of the subsequent albums which now overshadow it, and rightfully so, but that doesn't mean this one should be ignored. It has it's gems and if you have explored KCs music, then you should eventually come back to this one.

Okay, this is the third time that I've re-written this review, but I firmly believe that my sentiments this time will be final. Here goes. King Crimson's fourth release, "Islands", shows not a drop in quality from their first three masterpieces but, certainly a change in sound.

Sonically, the album follows the jazz-oriented focus of "Lizard" but takes it further, almost completely abandoning the symphonic elements that were present on the band's first three albums. If you've just discovered King Crimson, this isn't a starting point at all. In fact, I'd highly advise everyone to listen to "Court" or "Red" to exhaustion first, then fill in their cravings with other great albums like "Wake", "Lizard" or "Larks' Tongues". At long last, after a finely attuned palette for King Crimson, and other more experimental prog groups, I'd recommend to give this one a shot. At first I gave "Islands" 3 stars. I figured that, despite having some pretty moments, it focused too heavily on dissonance and open soloing, but that's just because I was more into symphonic prog at the time and hadn't really developed my ear for more unorthodox sounds.

After repeated listening I began to tolerate the album's first side, which prompted me to bump my rating up to 4 stars. But now, after revisiting "Islands" on numerous occasions, I've come to appreciate it as what it really is: an overlooked, but profoundly beautiful gem. And like any true gem, it will be difficult to access at first, but after time sands it down and weathers away its rough edges, it will shine brightly.

Others have commented on which tracks they prefer (I personally feel that the Prelude and the title track together account for one of the all time top 10 prog moments) and what the album's sounds entail, so I would just like to share a small anecdote. Hopefully it will provide just the right lens for either a new listener or a veteran King Crimson fan to come to appreciate the full beauty of "Islands".

In the 1920's, astronomers were debating the size of the universe. At this point, it was commonly accepted that the Milky Way was all that there ever was and that nothing existed beyond its reaches. Figures were flying about as to just how far it stretched, though; the astronomers had to be exact, after all. Conservative estimates believed that the universe stretched 10 000 light years. But others were steadfast that the value was closer to 30 000 light years. Around this time, Edwin Hubble was studying some strange objects in the sky; nebulae. At this point in time, nebula was a broad term assigned to just about anything that seemed fuzzy when they looked at it through telescopes, such as the Trifid Nebula, whose image adorns the cover of "Islands" and inspired me to talk about astronomy in this review in the first place. Anyhow, Edwin Hubble managed to make a major breakthrough by making use of finer and finer-focused telescopes, as well as the discovery by Henrietta Swan Leavitt that certain types of stars, Cepheid variables, have a direct relationship between their period of fluctuation in brightness and their absolute brightness. Leavitt's law, as it was called, was very important for astronomers as it let them gauge distances by comparing the apparent and absolute brightness of Cepheid variable stars just by observing their period.

Anyhow, back to the nebulae. Back in the 1920's, astronomers thought that these hazy-looking "nebulae" were just stars, like anything else that existed in the universe. But, as telescopes got better and able to see farther, Hubble noticed that these nebulae looked nothing like stars at all; he saw structure within them. Some looked like clouds, others had arms protruding from them. And one observation that he noticed was very profound; it looked like these nebulae contained little specks of light that changed their brightness at fixed intervals. They looked like Cepheid variable stars. Using Leavitt's law, Hubble was able to use these brightness periods to determine that distance of what he believed to be stars contained within a larger, nearby nebula. And what he discovered was that this nebula, Andromeda, was not only more than 10 000 light years away. In fact, not even the upper bound of a 30 000 light year universe could contain it. Andromeda was at least 2 MILLION light years away from us. This discovery was profound as Hubble realized that the Milky Way was not all that was, it was just one of countless galaxies with the cosmos, or, as they called them back then, island universes.

So perhaps what I'm trying to get across with this Hubble story is that, like the cloudy nebulae that littered the night sky, this album may seem hazy or unfocused at first. It may seem to lack depth or distinction, but surely, as an observer expands and improves their understanding, they too will gain clarity. So if you don't understand this album at first listen, don't write it off as unworthy. Look at it with a new lens and with any luck, its jewels will sweep like waves into your ears.

Review Nº 29

After "In The Court Of The Crimson King" and "Red", this is my third review of a King Crimson's musical work. "Islands" is their fourth studio album and was released in 1971. All the music was written by Robert Fripp and all the lyrics were written by Peter Sinfield, as usual, while he was in the group.

The line up on the album is Robert Fripp (guitar, mellotron, and harmonium), Boz Burrell (lead vocals and bass guitar), Mel Collins (backing vocals, saxophones, flute and bass flute), Ian Wallace (backing vocals, drums and percussion) and Peter Sinfield (words). The album has also the participation of the following additional musicians: Paulina Lucas (soprano vocals), Keith Tippett (piano), Robin Miller (oboe), Mark Charing (cornet) and Harry Miller (double bass).

When it was released, "Islands" wasn't particularly very well received by the critics, and neither had been much success among King Crimson's fans. However, "Islands" got to number 30 in England, and number 76 in America. Once more, in April of 1972, King Crimson's line up broke up after Burrell, Collins and Wallace, had left the band. It was also the last time that Sinfield featured his lyrics, on a King Crimson's album. Fripp phoned and told him, that he wouldn't work with him anymore, because their creative relationship was exhausted and had come to an end.

"Islands" has six tracks. Four tracks have lyrics, whose lyrics are about three women, and two are instrumental tracks. The first track "Formentera Lady" is one of the two lengthiest tracks on the album. It's a beautiful track that starts slowly with Burrell singing the Sinfield lyrics, well accompanied by several instruments like bass, flute, saxophone, piano, mellotron and guitar. Some say, this is a too big and a too boring track. Sincerely, I don't agree with that. Despite not being the best song on the album, it isn't really bad at all. The second track "Sailor's Tale" is a kind of the second part of a lengthiest epic theme, which includes the two songs. For me, it's a notable piece of music in the King Crimson's style. It's one of my favourite songs on the album and it's also one of the most progressive musics too. The third track "The Letters" is a song dominated by the saxophone of Collins. It's a melancholic ballad and a pretty dark song, which reflects the sadness and anger, transmitted by Burrell's voice. Previously, it was known as "Drop In", and it was written during the Giles, Giles & Fripp days, in 1968. The fourth track "Ladies On The Road" is a theme with a lyrical tone and is a song playfully sexist. It seems to be the favourite theme of Fripp on the album. The vocal choir reminds me The Beatles. This is probably the nearest thing on the album capable to be a proverbial hit single. The fifth track "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" is the smallest song on the album but, for me, is their best song. This is a notable piece of symphonic and classical music, one of the best I've ever heard before. It seems to have an unknown string ensemble quartet, accompanied with a wonderful flute. It's a track without any kind of free improvisation, very beautiful, extremely very well composed and arranged which contrasts with the usual King Crimson's music. The track reminds me the classical period of the Baroque Music, particularly the oeuvre of J. S. Bach. The sixth track "Islands" is the title track. It's the lengthiest track on the album. It's a very calm and beautiful song, with great instrumental arrangements, and full of continuous solos of various musical instruments. It's also one of my favourite tracks on the album. "Islands" ends the album nicely as it bookends, with "Formentera Lady", both in content and style.

The King Crimson releases are renowned for their artwork, and "Islands" isn't an exception. The original UK and European cover of the album depicts the Trifid Nebula in the Sagittarius constellation and displays neither the name of the band or its title. The original US or Canadian album cover is a Sinfield's painting, of off-white with coloured islands.

Conclusion: As all we know, King Crimson is a very experimental band, which incorporates diverse musical influences and instrumentation, during their long musical career. It always was very impressive to me, the radical changes in the band's music, from album to album. Just only mention the three albums reviewed by me until now: "In The Court Of The Crimson King" is an album that received more influences from symphonic rock, "Red" received more influences from hard and heavy rock and "Islands" received more influences from jazz. Many have seen "Islands" as the weakest of all King Crimson's studio albums released in the 70's, the less innovative, somewhat restrained and uneven sounding, and awkwardly a pretentious work. That is an argument that I can't accept. "Islands" is in reality an album with many facets. It's a laid back album that reveals its charm gradually and only occasionally decides that the listener needs to be beaten over the head, with the full power of the group. "Islands" is one of my first vinyl purchases, in the distant 70's, and I always loved it. It remains, for me, as one of the lost classic albums of the 70's.

Prog is my Ferrari. Jem Godfrey (Frost*)

Not In the vein of King Crimson first of all.

Through this album "Islands", one of my favourites, sounds like Robert's presence or identity cannot easily be heard. The three free-form jazz rock launchers - Mel, Ian, and Boz - played what they liked to do exactly ... in front of the frontman Robert. The middle part of a golden suite "Formentera Lady ~ Sailor's Tale" or a slightly nasty pop "Ladies Of The Road" should be called as their one-trio show, where we cannot find any symphonic shadow. Robert, who was pushed away out of their improvised jazz session, played deep heavy guitar very monotonously and quietly upon the latter phase of "Sailor's Tale", that can be thought as one of the most important moments in King Crimson's history, especially as for the very last "gorgeous" phrase.

On the contrary, via the last two tracks - "Prelude: Song Of The Gulls" and the titled track - we can hear KC's brilliant and colourful appearance. The former is one of the most beautiful and charming songs of all, like "I Talk To The Wind" or "The Night Watch". The latter should be a pretty creative one, featuring dark atmosphere, Boz's sticky, depressive but enthusiastic voices, and Mel's keen, dramatic trumpet theatre. Above mentioned, in this album, the ending sound of a track is quite meaningful. The last mellotron article and a few seconds' silence can be said as their delicacy and sensitiveness. What a superb milestone this album based upon light and shade is.

Again let me say, this album is my favourite King Crimson's creation without any suspicion, and at the same time, is not recommended as a typical, authentic one for every KC freak. A brilliant gem, nonetheless.

Islands is a very special album to me. Partly because it was the first King Crimson album I ever listened to, and partly because it shows their softer side. For some reason, this album has been vastly underrated, and critics tend to really give it to the singing, which i thought fit the album perfectly.

Starting off with the entrancing Formentara Lady, which starts with some nice vocals and other classical instruments, and then launches into some experimental meanderings for the remaining five minutes. This section does tend to linger for a while, but its like nothing I've ever heard, the sound is something no other band has reached. It definitely deserves more credit.

At the end of Formentara Lady, the ride symbol slowly introduces Sailers Tail, a loud jazzy instrumental, that never gets out of hand. It has a Soft Machine sound to it, but undeniably King Crimson. They give it their all from beginning to end, not wasting any time. This is one of my top ten favourite Crimson tracks.

"Impaled on nails of ice!" The Letters is about two women fighting over a man, writing letters to one another. It begins mellow, but breaks into some chaotic sax, not unlike Van Der Graaf Generator. Clocking at only 4:32, it gets a lot done before the gentle ending leading to the Prelude.

Song of the Gulls is a beautiful classical track. This really shows how much King Crimson is capable of. They can compose chaotic songs like Schizoid Man, but song of the gulls is really something else.

I love albums that save the best for last. This is surely the case here with the 9 minute title track. This song is like a dream, with the lyrics taking you off to your own island somewhere. I enjoy the simplicity, but it isn't repetitive at all. Keeping you interested the whole way through, it is a song unlike any other (maybe Raven That Refused To Sing). Improving upon every listen, this ranks as one of my all time favorites.

Another transition album.

With his band members fleeing, and with questions about Crimson's future plaguing him, Fripp recruited new members for a tour. He brought Mel Collins on board full time, Ian Wallace on drums, and asked Box Burrell to sing (and to learn the bass - when he joined he wasn't really a bass player). The result is a bit of a new sound, but again it would be transitory, as Fripp would disband this version after the tour, when he would ask Bruford and Wetton to join. The result of this lineup, Islands is again a mixed bag. And once again, the main problem is Sinfield's lyrics, although Burrell's singing isn't as bad as Haskell's. Islands has a harder and darker feel, with ribald songs ('Ladies of the Road'), more serious numbers than anything on Lizard ('The Letters'), and more grand statements (the title track). Fripp himself dismissed the opening track ('Formentary Lady') as crap, and really it doesn't go anywhere. The shining light on this album, however, is 'Sailor's Tale'. Excellent guitar solos, and very inventive structure, this instrumental track acts as the link between Schizoid Man and the kind of sound Crimson would develop under Bruford and Wetton. After many years, I find the rest of the album hasn't maintained its charm, with the exception of this one piece. 'Sailor's Tale' is the reason to pick this one up. I give this album 7.1 out of 10 on my 10-point scale, which translates to 3 PA stars.

For me this album is one of the most interesting King Crimson effort, because it's at the same time something completely new for the band, and a delicate bridge between "Lizard" and "Lark's Tongues In Aspic".

Experimental nature of "Islands" is pretty much obvious in cause of contrast that was made by far more aggressive sound of previous album. There we have very calm and almost meditative soundscapes which are being represented to us starting with the first section of the disc.

I think now it's time to say something about album's structure. For me it can be simply divided into three major parts, where the first consists of tracks 1 and 2 which make a so-called "Sailor's Tale Suite" I like to think about it as an almost twenty-minute piece because the transition between the tracks is insanely smooth and they are very similar to each other if we speaking about atmosphere. For me this part is probably the best in the entire album, cause it gives many different and entertaining moves, which combine variety of greatly enjoyable moods.

The second part takes it place at tracks 3-5 and is the most experimental part of the album. Although it's still enjoyable I personally think that it's a bit of a letdown of an album.

Finally the last part is the title track only. And that's where things get very complicated, because it's one of a few songs which I find deeply personal but I can't say definitely why it's so. Still it won't stop me from getting shivers every time I listen to it.

I already said a lot about my all-time favorite, though I can speak about how gorgeous it is about an hour or even more, but there is still one thing that I want to mention - if you really listen to it carefully, then you can see pieces and moods that'll directly make their way to next King Crimson work. It provides very nice transition of styles within band's discography.

So, in the nutshell "Islands" is very calm but at the same time a very personal experience, something that you need to listen at least once. For me it's true masterpiece, and I won't hesitate even a bit from rating this 5/5.

The 4th and final album of the Sinfield era, "Islands" is romantic, experimental and jazzier than ever. It holds the advantage over "Lizard" in some ways, especially because Boz Burrell, a much better vocalist (and my personal favorite), and Ian Wallace, a much more creative drummer, hop on board for this mostly relaxed album. Robert Fripp also plays a much larger role, exemplified with his "Sailor's Tale" that is somewhat of a precursor to the wonderful experimentation that would happen in "Larks' Tongues in Aspic" 2 years later.

The album opens with "Formentera Lady," which isn't the typical King Crimson album opener expected of the previous albums, but it really sets the tone for an exotic experience. It begins with Keith Tippet's signature piano flourishes and some outstanding saxophone work from Mel Collins. The vocal work from Boz Burrell is some of the best on the album, and Ian Wallace's percussion in this song sounds like what was to come from players like Bill Bruford or Jamie Muir. The song is also a whopping ten minutes, but like most KC songs, it doesn't overstay its welcome.

"The Letters" is a somber song with more excellent vocals, especially near the end of the song. As I said, "Sailor's Tale" is one of the great experimental works from not only the band but also Mel Collins, however I think this song does overstay its welcome in length, especially after "Formentera Lady."

Speaking of overly long songs, one song that I've never been fond of is "Prelude: Song of the Gulls," which is pleasant for about a minute but goes absolutely nowhere. I get that it's supposed to be a calm buildup before the final track, but it's just not fulfilling enough and "Islands" just isn't as powerful as songs like "Lizard" and "The Court of the Crimson King."

Another great moment on this record is "Ladies of the Road," with harmonies comparable to that of The Beach Boys in the chorus, which is easily the highlight of the song. I also love how Mel Collins uses the saxophone on this track, making it work with a bluesy number such as this.

Overall, the record isn't nearly as strong as the previous ones, but it's pretty good regardless. 3/5

Fripp's creature still changes skin, and produces another epochal album, which marks the story, the third in three years (Poseidon was not remarkable). Fripp changes the singer (out Haskell, inside Boz Burrell, voice with a similar tone but more beautiful timbre and better sensitivity) and the drummer (out the talented overflowing jazzman McCulloch, inside the sober, talented Ian Wallace), holds Sinfield to the lyrics, Mel Collins on flute and saxophone, and produces an album where he is the author of all the music. This is Fripp's record more than any other Crimson's record.

The Lp starts with the double bass (Harry Miller) and the flute, which depict an impressionist painting ("Formentera Lady", ten minutes, vote 7,5/8) that already tends towards the abstract: a slow progression almost free-folk introduces the whispered voice of Burrell; after three minutes arrives the bass and percussion and Burrell sings: "Formentera Lady", a sort of slow-motion refrain. Then the flute and the double bass return for a while, then the "Formentera Lady" refrain again; after that, comes the saxophone, which in dissonance, with percussive and lyrical background, climbs into landscapes never heard before. Lizard's liquid jazz seems light years away. Here we are on the edge of avant-garde. The song fades into the next ("The Sailor Tale", seven and a half minutes, vote 8+); it has a jazzy rhythm and an oblique, menacing sound, with Fripp's guitar that anticipates the abrasive sound of "Larks Tongue in Aspic". We move in ever more abstract forms, in astral landscapes like the photo of the cover, where the voice is only an occasional appearance, a sign of life inside a mysterious cosmos. The song is as beautiful as it is demanding. The melody is completely absent. The only elements are rhythm, and dissonance. By spreading more and more the development of the songs, Fripp anticipates the post-rock in slow-motion of "Talk Talk": the music will have to overcome a strong inertia to move forward. The listener is in awe, he can't relax, he feels approaching something looming, mysterious, formless that with the passage of time becomes more and more looming but remains formless. It's like being inside a completely dark tunnel where light never comes. In the third song ("The Letter's", four and a half minutes, vote 7,5) the voice of Burrell returns, always whispered (what Haskell could not do), accompanied by the saxophone, which remains the main instrument of the album. The track is hard, solid, angular, quite the opposite of the liquid and soft consistency of "Lizard" (in fact in the whole Lp the piano, played by Tippet, is almost missing). End of first side.

Side B continues the angular and rocky sound of the last song, with "Ladies of The Road" (five and a half minutes, vote 8), which takes on a sarcastic tone already heard in the two previous albums. The arrangements are thin, the guitar of Fripp proposes that oblique and abrasive sound never heard in previous records. The song leaves room for some melodic chorus reminiscent of the Beatles (it's inspired by "Come Together", written by Lennon). Mel Collins's saxophone, never so much protagonist , closes the song (it's the only piece on the album that looks like a real conventional song) with a virtuosistic solo. It follows an instrumental symphonic piece ("Song of the Gulls", vote 7,5), almost angelic, which breaks the homogeneity of the album, but arrived at this point, perhaps it is good. Fripp inserts an atmosphere worthy of Bach, almost eighteenth century, as if to recover the melody so far lost. The piece with the oboes (Robin Miller) is particularly beautiful.

The record ends in a romantic way because after the symphonic and calm "Song of the Gulls" comes "Islands" (twelve minutes, vote 8; but there is an hidden symphonic track after a minute of silence), an atmospheric piece, where you can finally hear the beautiful voice of Burrel singing here with taste, without whispering, and you can finally hear the piano played by Tippet! The melody is beautiful, but not very developed, it remains an evocation and perhaps the arrangement, in this case, is lacking. To enhance a melody that touches epic vertices like this one, it would take a more consistent arrangement and a greater rhythm. Who knows what a masterpiece would become this song with McDonald on keyboards and Lake on lead vocals! Anyway, "Islands" is the final worthy of this great album thanks to the instrumental progression led by Mel Collins, which is the real factotum of the Lp: Fripp is the composer, he is the main performer.

"Islands" is an austere, sober, dissonant, timeless album, completely out of every classification. It requires a different listening from the one reserved for rock songs, because it has no rhythm, it proceeds by expanding every passage of sound. "Islands" is not dated at all, in fact is a seminal album because it has free-folk, free-jazz, avant-garde, post-rock moments. Masterpiece.

Medium quality of the songs: 7,83. Vote album: 9. Five Stars.

"The Quirky Factor Rules!"

Here my final review in the 40th Anniversary Serie of the early King Crimson albums, this time their fourth album entitle Islands, from 1971. Again changes in the line-up, this time a new rhythm-section, a wide range of guest musicians, only prime mover Robert Fripp, Mel Collins and Pete Sinfield are the familiar musical faces.

Well, the gradual changing of the musical direction from 24-carat symphonic rock to more experimental since their second album is now a kind of Different Category Extravaganza, incredible, what a variety of styles in the six compositions: free jazz, avant-garde, classical, symphonic rock, rock and blues, the Quirky Factor rules! Like in the track Sailor's Tale featuring fiery guitar and powerful saxophone with soaring Mellotron, it could have been a Red composition. While the long titletrack delivers majestic Mellotron violins in the vein of ITCOTKC, apart from work on the cornet, very special, to say the least.

From the six bonus tracks the composition A Peacemaking Stinr Unrolls is previously unreleased: it sounds as music in the future, like the 1973 LP Larks Tongues In Aspic (when King Crimson started to turn in a tight unit): propulsive with fiery guitar, in combination with sweeping drum beats and heavy saxophone work.

The DVD contains 3 versions of the 6 studio songs from the Islands album: DTS 5.1 Digital Surround, PCM 2.0 (24/48 and stereo (16/48) featuring a serie of special versions, like a 'rehearsal/outtake' from The Letters, a 'rough mix' from Formentera Lady, 'live' versions from The Letters and Sailor's Tale and a special version from the titletrack, labelled as 'fragment: Robert Fripp reference cassette ? Mellotron on vibes setting, really unique!

The usual Sid Smith booklet delivers again very interesting information, nice pictures and a Sid Smith story.

I

KING CRIMSON took the world by storm by unleashing an upgraded form of art rock that would be penned progressive rock and would forever change the coarse of rock music while launching an arms race of rock music that quickly increased the sophistication, however the band despite its brilliant debut 'In The Court Of The Crimson King' was not only prolifically eclectic but quite volatile. It wouldn't take long for various members to butt heads about which particular style to emphasize and which direction the band should steer towards. While the band had only released the debut in October 1969, a restless ambitiousness possessed those who stuck around and 1970 saw two more albums, 'In The Wake Of Poseidon' and 'Lizard' which explored even more eclectic sounds. It was at this point that bassist Gordon Haskell and drummer Andy McCulloch were finding Robert Fripp's avant-garde tastes too much to handle and were more interested in remaining in a more focused blues rock arena, but Fripp was having none of it and after an acrimonious kerfuffle, the two split and a new version of KING CRIMSON arose from the ashes.

S

Despite a burgeoning prog rock scene just two years after it all began, Fripp was having trouble finding suitable replacements as many of his picks were in other commitments. John Wetton had joined Family, Bryan Ferry was off to Roxy Music. After the monumental task of filling the slots, the role of new lead vocalist and bassist was awarded to Raymond 'Boz' Burrell who ironically didn't even know how to play bass at the time and learned how in order to join the band based on his skills as a rhythm guitarist. He wouldn't last long in KC and would go on to join Bad Company. The position of drummer was given to a relative unknown named Ian Wallace and then KING CRIMSON spent 1971 recording their fourth album ISLANDS which was released in December on Island Records. Another feature of this new lineup was that they were capable of playing live which KC hadn't done since the short-lived first lineup after the debut. The band spent 1971 touring and recording before the new albums even released.

L

ISLANDS is the oddball in the already eclectic canon of this hard to categorize musical entity. With the new members on board, so too came their musical sensibilities but the main drive was the differences in musical tastes that founding members Robert Fripp and Peter Sinfield were undergoing. Fripp was moving to a harsher dissonant sound that would peak on the future 'Red' whereas Sinfiled was more interested in the softer orchestral jazz collaborations that Miles Davis performed with artists such as Gil Evans, thus making ISLANDS the most overtly jazzy album of KC's career. In fact ISLANDS has many unique qualities absent from other KC albums. Not only does it feature the only foray into the world of chamber rock string ensembles on 'Prelude: Song Of The Gulls' but finds an overall more atmospheric approach that in some ways is an early example of what post-rock would eventually become, namely a chamber rock plethora of instrumentation that creates non-rock music in atmospheric textures.

A

Clearly a mellower affair than the previous heavier rockers, ISLANDS finds a tug-of-war in action where Fripp's heavy guitar antics flare up in tracks like 'Sailor's Tale' but find themselves subdued beneath an airy-fairy gentleness of a totally relaxed vocal style of Burrell whose hypnotic bass playing surely giving rise to this proto-post rock effect. Once again the five official band members were joined by a few extra session musicians including the ferocious piano attack of Keith Tippett as well as a more pronounced use of the cornet and oboe. Given that the jazz elements are the main focus, the squawking saxophone is ubiquitous and the under represented bass flute finds some key moments on ISLANDS as well. All in all, the strange elements vying for control make this totally unique as the different instruments find themselves performing unconventional roles but somehow create a larger sum of the parts that takes the listener to some journey into the heavens above as displayed by the album cover art of the Trifid Nebula in Sagittarius.

N

'Formentera Lady' kicks off the album in a near ten minute hypnotic groove of a repetitive bass line and avant-garde backing of the callithump of various instruments that freely float around but the following 'Sailor's Tale' provides the closest thing to a true rocker with a boisterous attempt by Fripp to deliver some angular guitar workouts as well as a more energized Ornette Coleman styled saxophone workout. The album teeters on the precipice of order and chaos with moody melodies struggling to find full fruition and extreme bouts into noisy angularity at its most delicate balance on 'The Letters.' The most cheery and melodic track comes in the form of the Beatles-esque 'Ladies Of The Road' which delivers a rather catchy ear hook and even culminates in some amazing vocal harmonies but not without a hypnotic bass groove that ushers a frenetic sax and irritable guitar along the way. This is probably the track where all the styles on board coalesce the most sublimely.

D

After the chamber rock string ensemble fluffer of 'Prelude' Song Of Gulls,' the album ends with the vocal jazz title track that begins with a gentle piano and almost sedate bass flute as it slowly drifts into higher gear but never really sets the world on fire but still finds away to drift on for over nine minutes as it engages in a rather cyclical melodic flow much like modern post-rock with a jazzy talking sax that punctuates the otherwise serene and hypnotic atmospheric haze. There is also a hidden track after a few seconds of silence that simply finds the band in the studio practicing. ISLANDS was probably the toughest nuts to crack of the early KC albums as it took a long time for it to sink in. While still not my preferred album of choice when rocking to the Crimson ones, it is nevertheless an interesting specimen of progressive rock that tackles jazz-fusion, symphonic chamber music and twisted illogical art rock all rolled up into one. It's almost as if this was a precursor of what Talk Talk would conjure up in the late 80s with albums like 'Spirit Of Eden,' a bold musical statement that allowed the textures and ambience of the instruments paint an impressionist aural experience.

S

This is one of those divisive albums where some claim it to be the pinnacle of the KC sound and others the exact opposite calling ti the biggest disappointment. I started out as the former but have come to terms with this interesting musical spectacle, that is understanding it on its own terms and not imposing my will of what it should've been. This is a subtly beautiful album that admittedly takes a lot more time to warm up to but seems to make more sense with a fair amount of listens. Once again, the turmoil that was KING CRIMSON would find band members not seeing eye to eye and the lifestyle choices of drug using band members led the sober Robert Fripp to drift away into his own world which caused the band to break up but as is well known, Fripp would regroup in a couple years and deliver a completely new third major lineup of the band and release the completely different 'Lark's Tongues In Aspic' which would allow much of the rock aspects to once again reign. While it took some time, warm up to ISLANDS i did and once i did, it shed a new light on its place in the rock history books.

Islands. What a weird album. What a weird band...!

I feel the same way about King Crimson since their debut album: I'm used to something more symphonic, but King Crimson wants you to be a masochist... The music challenges you, lets you know what can you take in terms of nonsense. And it makes you want more of that nonsense! It's like a hot, spicy pepper. It hurts your tongue, and yet you love it. That's how Crimson works, sometimes. There are others times, though, where the music is a sweet, sweet delect. Their first album is closer to that. Islands? It's a mix of both. The perfect balance.

Without even playing the album, what hooked me particularly on this one is the awesome cover which, IMHO, compliments extremely well with the name, Islands. Now that I think about it, it just blows my mind how awesome of a duo they both make, despite being in such a different theme. Islands are more referring to the land. But the cover fits around the space-theming, and on a magical side. It looks like the Orion Nebula, except it limits itself around specific colors, and is overall a lot more... Moody. But magical! Will the album stay the same?

When you play the first song, it seems not, Formentera Lady starts not-so-pleasantly, but right when the vocals hit, subtle but wonderful piano follows and you search for the valuable sounds inside that chaos. That's what it is when you first listen to this album. But I found that the more you listen to it, the more enjoyable it becomes. And it's true: I HATED Formentera Lady when I first listened to it. But a few minutes ago, as I'm typing this, I tried it again just to see it my opinion still holds, and no, not at all. I guess it's just a question of getting used to it. I feel like this applies to every KC album, but it's really just this one. Islands is the only one to be like that. It's the chili pepper of all prog albums.

I prove this even more when going through the next track, Sailor's Tale. Fripp gets very agressive on the guitar, but the sound of it is so rich that your ears still enjoy it. I've never been a fan of wind instruments, but I'm still learning to like the ones found on the first half of the track, and only recently I've started liking them. I could perhaps be a question of getting used to something new, because KC is NOT accessible. At all. But your average prog fan will like this: Halfway through Sailor's Tale, mellotron gets louder and sets the magical theme for a first time in the album. The drums get more complex, and the guitar alone sets for an eargasm when everything else is quiet. Sailor's Tale is an odd but very enjoyable instrumental once you get used to it, and one of the better tracks of the album.

The final track of the first side, The Letters, starts with a great jazzy riff, and only two minutes in, you get the first and last "King Crimson moment" of the album. What I'm referring to here is the strange buildup that surpasses the limits of what it should usually be, challenging the listener using multiple instruments (This time, a lot of wind instruments) getting higher and higher. For example, the ending of 21st Century Schizoid Man is a King Crimson moment. Anyway, you have this one right in the middle of the song, but right after, Boz continues on vocals in such a good way. The song finishes with only him singing quietly, everything else being silent. It shouldn't be, but it's special and not usual. It compliments well the musical theming of the album, and only looking at the cover will make me recognize this theming. But I love it.

Starting on the second side is Ladies of the Road, which seemingly starts with unmelodic notes, but it is soon over as a (saxophone?) jazz-experimental solo kicks in louder than ever. Again, that's a moment that you have to get used to if you want to love it. Fortunately for us prog fans, the bass compliments well the solo and makes it much more enjoyable. My favorite part is when (I think it's the chorus?) backing vocals appear and the bass gets very catchy. One of the more experimental, but still enjoyable tracks of the album.

The next track is not the most experimental, but maybe the weirdest because it's a straight-up classical piece. Or is it? Not really, because old classical music wouldn't approach such music this way. Prelude - Song Of The Gulls is something that makes me relax even more than a usual classical piece. It gives a mood of "What a lovely day" while walking through a park on the border of a river. That's what it feels like, but it is so unusual for what the rest of the album is, and it's why I love it. It speaks for the diversity of what a prog album should have. It also acts like a prelude for for the final title track.

Although the longest, Islands is the most accessible song of the album. It is soft, contains great vocals (Boz might be my favorite singer of KC), complimenting with a few jazz instruments, and later on, sets magic with the mellotron entering. With Sailor's Tale, it is the track that I feel compliments much more with the album cover and the *general* theming of the album. It's not something you can describe, but rather something you feel. A specific kind of magic that goes into your ears.

On the technical side, Islands is a mix of experimental jazz and symphonic prog ala King Crimson ; Which means the music will not fear being agressive at times, it likes to challenge the listener. But this is why one likes King Crimson in general, they won't stay in melodic / symphonic moments all the time, they like to have their music spicier.

Although it's considered one of the two jazz albums by KC, I prefer Islands over Lizard by far. Islands has this special ability of finding sense in something that seems nonsense ; Lizard is just nonsense, and there's nothing more to it.

At first, Islands is not an easy listen. Chances are, you won't like it on your first play. But trust me, let it grow on you, and I'm sure you'll love it. For all that I've described above, Islands is brilliant, and definitively hits the top 3 King Crimson albums.

With the arrival of King Crimson on Spotify, my quest to provide detailed reviews on their catalog resume with "Islands", which featured Robert Fripp and producer Peter Sinfield with yet another all new band, this time singer (and learned bassist) Boz Burrell, along with Mel Collins and Ian Wallace to flesh out the lineup.

And as usual, another Crimson album, another sharp divide between detractors and admirers. This album is probably the most divisive considering the musical elements. This is clearly evidenced by the dividing opinions of the two biggest members at the time. Sinfield favored softer, subtler touches, string ensembles and more jazz fusion approach a la Miles Davis, a style that is immediately evident with the opening track "Formentera Lady". It's an atmospheric ten minute track complete with jazzy sax, operatic vocals and even a string section. Unheard of from a band that blazed a rocking bebop trail on "Court of the Crimson King" three years earlier!

Fripp meanwhile preferred the classic style, more rock, more distortion. On "Sailor's Tale", the Mellotron is in full force, and Fripp pulls out some inspire banjo-influenced guitar playing. The classic jazz-rock sound familiar from previous records is on display but in a more controlled fashion. The schizophrenic breakouts are more precise and purposeful, not random and jittery, and not breaking the flow of music as much as in previous records.

These two styles are polar opposites from each other that when they try to come together, they just didn't mesh. "The Letters" tries to combine a somber ballad like singing style with brief interludes of loud, brash sax playing and distorted sound. It felt like trying to watch a romance movie with your kid brother quoting a Die Hard movie at the top of his lungs as he passed from one room to the other. It interrupts the whole moment.

This album is a prime example of clashing heads, and Fripp's unrelenting vision of a project of his own vision, and no one else's. "Ladies of the Road" tries to be a rocking blusey tune, but is slightly tarnished from Fripp's bebop-oriented style. It could've easily be mistaken as a Pink Floyd track were it not for the blazing sax, but again, it's a merger of two styles that never quite gelled. "Prelude - Song of the Gulls" is a damn chamber string orchestral piece!

Not even the rest of the band cared for it. When one of your band members describes the delicate and softer portions of your music as "airy-fairy [&*!#]", you can tell there's gonna be an issue. Not even the title track could save it which, like the opener "Formentera Lady", is almost entirely soft, filled with strings with a hidden track at the end for no reason which is basically just a minute and a half of string tuning (booooring).

Now I actually don't mind the softer soft ("Formentera Lady" is actually one of my favorites off this album), but you could tell the result of this album was two butting heads at work. No wonder Fripp fired Sinfield. This album basically concludes what I consider the transitional phase in King Crimson's life. Gone was the rhythm and blues bands of previous records, for the next three to come would include more improvisation and improvisational artists, a group that would churn out some of the best records of the lot.

This album sorely tries my firm resolve to review albums that don't move me and that must convey a type of album review in it itself. This has to be one of the most boring albums I've ever listened to and, issued by the incredible King Crimson, makes it all the more baffling to me.

Ok, I can see that mastermind Robert Fripp felt compelled to streamline KC's sound from the incredibly rambling and brilliant jazz and symphonic juxtapositions of the previous Lizard album. But gone now is the incredibly tasty drumming of the sorely underrated Andy McCulloch and the plodding rambling bass of Gordon Haskell. Future Bad Company member "Boz" Burrell is handling bass and vocals with fellow new man Ian Wallace on drums. Burrell was a rudimentary bassist at this point and he severely drags down or inhibits any flights of fancy by Wallace throughout the songs.

Surely Fripp on mellotron and guitar and the incredible Mel Collins on flute and sax can carry the day? And guest jazz virtuoso Keith Tippet on piano? All but Collins adds any fire or life to these lifeless songs.

The lead off track 'Formentera Lady' starts off with a long boring (that word again!) droning bowed bass by a session player before devolving into a mind numbing two note procession on electric bass throughout the remainder of this long tedious song. Collins tries his best to inject some life into the copse, but alas, it won't budge. "Sailor's Tales" starts off well with Collins in some type of alternate free form jazz world of his own before the song switches to a slower time and introduces abrasive electric guitar, smothered in echoplex, by Fripp that goes nowhere. It is quite a good technical exercise but it's poor music. "The Letters" is a sleepy ballad that has none of previous KC charm or breathtaking melodicism like "Cadence And Cascade" or "Lady Of The Dancing Water" from previous albums. The quirky "Ladies Of The Road", with it's faux Beatles' chorus, is a bad joke and must be one of the worst tunes that KC ever committed to vinyl.

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is a completely instrumental piece performed by a chamber ensemble. With an unremarkable melody, it is devoid of all that could have made it something listenable. Particularly by some inspired playing of Fripp on guitar and mellotron and flute or sax by Collins. The title track "Islands" is supposed the album's highpoint, but is another missed opportunity with lackluster guitar from Fripp, or any arresting mellotron work. In fact, the mellotron strings sound like new age soundscape material. Collins tries but, again, his great skills on flute and sax can't salvage this slow paced and overlong melancholy song.

There, it's done. I can now put Islands back up on the shelf again and enjoy ten other Crimson albums that are masterpieces or thereabouts. The sooner the better. 2 stars.

Review #27

King Crimson's fourth album "Islands" was released in 1971 now with Boz Burrell and Ian Wallace replacing Gordon Haskell and Andy McCullough respectively. This new line-up continued with the same jazzy style of the previous album taking it to a new level of madness and experimentation. This was King Crimson's last album with Peter Sinfield on the band and definitely, it is the closure of the first era of King Crimson because after this album Robert Fripp reformed the band once again and changed the musical direction of the band forever. The album explores a lot of different musical styles from Jazz-Rock to Classical Music arrangements and makes an eclectic mixture of sounds that give the album the quality of an underrated masterpiece.

1.- Formentera lady (10:18): The opening song starts as a soft ballad with nice arrangements of double bass and with the unrepeatable voice of Boz Burrell (absolutely different to Lake's and Haskell's voices), then the harmonic piece continues with the drums the bass and the flute collaborating to create a beautiful atmosphere of jazzy notes and signatures; then the singing stops and the instrumental part continues, the flute is replaced by the sax and the improvisation continues until the minute ten, when the cymbals start to beat, giving the entrance to the next song.

2.- Sailor's tale (07:29): An instrumental piece (and definitely my favorite of this album) it has a great Jazz structured drum line accompanied with the electric bass that makes the solid base to more free guitar and sax improvisations.

3.- The letters (04:28): The A-side of the album ends with this 4 and a half minutes piece that starts with a low volume guitar and bass figure until Boz Burrell starts singing again; then Mel Collins plays a low pitched sax line accompanied by Robert Fripp's guitar solo, then Burrell sings again and softly closes the song.

4.- Ladies of the road (05:34): The B-side of the album doesn't have as many Jazz vibes as the A-side, this song is more like a relaxed Rock melody with very powerful sax lines, quite enjoyable.

5.- Prelude: song of the gulls (04:14): This is a beautiful arrangement of chord instruments that gives the album a nice classy touch. Great way to almost close the album

6.- Islands (11:51): The last song has great piano arrangements; it is an amazing symphonic piece that closures the album beautifully; the trumpet and oboe in this piece are amazing.

After this record, King Crimson's music would never be the same. This is a historical record.

SONG RATING: Formentera lady, 5 Sailor's tale, 5 The letters, 5 Ladies of the road, 4 Prelude: song of the gulls, 4 Islands, 5

AVERAGE: 4.67

PERCENTAGE: 93.33

I ranked this album #76 on my TOP 100 favorite Progressive Rock albums of all time.

REVIEW #21 - "Islands" by King Crimson, (1971)

Following the release of their third studio album "Lizard", which is now considered a bit of a masterpiece but at the time was panned even by members of the band itself, King Crimson saw yet another opportunity to radically reinvent itself. "Islands" is largely the manifestation of the power struggle between guitar Robert Fripp and lyricist Peter Sinfield. Fripp wanted to explore more experimental and progressive themes in the music, while Sinfield envisioned a more baroque and admittedly pretentious artsy sound. In many ways, this album is more the elucidation of Sinfield's vision for the band than Fripp's, being King Crimson's quietest album by far.

Following the departure of vocalist Gordon Haskell and drummer Andy McCulloch after the recording of "Lizard" (neither would ever perform live with the band), King Crimson would bring in Boz Burrell (yes, the guy from rock supergroup Bad Company) to play bass and sing, while McCulloch's flatmate Ian Wallace was drafted to play the drums. Burrell's voice is extremely soft and delicate in contrast to Haskell's gruffness; it is no surprise that he would never sing with the band he would eventually become famous as a part of, and the music is sort of forced to reflect the more delicate sounds the band was capable of, at least when there were lyrics involved.

"Formentera Lady" is a very slow and uneventful opener to the LP, especially in contrast to the past three King Crimson albums. Being the longest song on "Islands", it boasts a slow burn led by an oboe. Sinfield is no stranger to writing exotic lyrics rife with imagery, and while the subject matter is not necessarily evocative of the island of Formentera in the Balearic Islands, it certainly is exotic, especially compared to the British Isles. It's almost as if the subject matter on these lighter tracks are derivative of light-hearted European pop while remaining progressive. I recommend checking out Sinfield's 1973 solo album if you're a fan of this kind of sound, but to me this is a step down from the excellent and dissonant work of the past few albums. "A Sailor's Tale" is much more interesting; this is a Fripp-penned tune, and it is perhaps the part of the album where he is allowed to really shine as a song-writer. There's a lot of derivation from the "In the Wake of Poseidon" track "The Devil's Triangle", except infinitely more dynamic and exciting. Beginning with strong saxophone from now official band-member Mel Collins, a brief interlude then gives way to one of the best buildups I've ever heard; Fripp's jazzy guitar solo is shattered by the glorious mellotron used to perfection, aided by wonderful drum fills by Wallace. This is a pretty common Crimson live track, and it's definitely one of the highlights of the album.

"The Letters" is one of two songs heavily inspired by Giles, Giles and Fripp compositions. It is a revamped version of the live song "Drop In" heard during the band's performances in 1969. Burrell's voice barely penetrates the surface to sing the opening lyrics, before a wave of music hits the listener for a wild middle instrumental. Burrell then comes back to recite his "heaviest" lyrics of the album before the song fades back into darkness. I will say this is a good song for the middle of the album, it may be filler-tier but it's an enjoyable listen. This is another piece that gets played in the band's concerts to this day. "Ladies of the Road" is where things take a bit of a turn for the worst; it is perhaps the most pretentious song about having the kinds of women from Zappa's "Joe's Garage" that I've ever heard, to the point that it borders on parody. Especially in progressive rock which is probably the least "wetting" album for the female gender, it just comes off as hilarious to me. It's also an extension of that "Beatles" sound that Sinfield was experimenting with at the time. Not necessarily a terrible song (don't think King Crimson ever wrote one), but definitely near the bottom for the band's discography. It's songs like this that make me happy that Robert Fripp was able to win control of the band at the end. I can only imagine if this was ever played live (I believe it was for the band's 1972 tour a few times), the sheer look of frustration on Fripp's face as Burrell sings "I smiled and just unzipped her...". Mel Collins even comes in to provide the 1970's cliche porn saxophone to only make it more of an uncomfortable listen. Will say that the chorus is not all that bad though, it's def the most memorable part of the song.

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is the King Crimson revamp of a Giles, Giles, and Fripp song titled "Suite No. 1". It makes use of a string section and is entirely instrumental. It is arguably the most forgettable song of the album, as it really strikes me as more of a cherubic elevator song straight out of a movie soundtrack. The band just really does not do anything exciting with this composition. The title track is where band historians consider the first "era" of King Crimson to end; in many ways it is a fitting sendoff of Peter Sinfield, who would be fired from the band following the album's supporting tour. To a point, the lyrical subject matter of the song focuses on the "islands" we create for ourselves, an allegory to our souls being islands in a sort of archipelago. The lyrics are beautiful, capturing the exotic and tropical literal imagery of the island chain. While the song is long at nine minutes and takes a while to build up, eventually we get to the swan song of "Islands", the beautiful Mel Collins saxophone solo which closes the album.... or does it. Yes, there is a "hidden track" at the end of the album, but it's really nothing more than some loose string sounds combined with the band talking in the background. It isn't really a song, and it's a bit of a weird addition to the album. King Crimson lately has done something weirdly consequential with this garbled bit of noise, alluding to it in the band's opening "song" for their live shows.

"Islands" is, unfortunately but largely due to the standard of material King Crimson created at the time, the weakest album of the band's first era. The real problem is that the band's penchant for intense and dissonant instrumentals which the listener became accustomed to over the first three albums is ditched with the sole exception of "A Sailor's Tale", which of course was the album highlight. "Islands" and "The Letters" are also good songs of note. Filler-wise this album contains some of the band's weakest, with "Ladies of the Road" being perhaps the band's first flop of a song on a critical level. I think the relative mediocrity of this album was enough reason for Fripp to pull the plug and assume absolute power over the band's direction, firing literally everyone else and starting an entirely new band, marking the beginning of King Crimson's incredible second generation. While I personally like a lot of the music on "Islands", this is by no means an essential album, and lacks the consistency to get a four-star rating. I can appreciate the unique sound of this album in the Crimson discography, compared to 1980's albums such as "Beat" and "Three of a Perfect Pair" that largely drew upon the "Discipline" template, but this is certainly one of King Crimson's more mediocre offerings. Their next album however, was far from mediocre.

OVERALL RATING: 3.4/5

Few bands know to change their sound as often as King Crimson. This is their 4th album and their 2nd departure from earlier sounds.

The impressive thing is, they pull it off! This is a fantastic Jazz-influenced album. Listening is a journey, an experience.

Formentera Lady - Great piece of music. Mellow, but ingenious and powerful. 8,5/10

Sailor's Tale - This is a fantastic track. It builds and builds and builds. Then it reaches its peak at the 6-minute mark and does let go in a fantastic way. 10/10

The Letters - My least favourite track of the album 7/10

Ladies Of The Road - I like the typical elements of King Crimson shining through here. I'm not a fan of the topic itself. It hurts the song IMHO. 8/10

Prelude: Song Of The Gulls - A nice little prelude to the album closure Islands. 8/10

Islands - This is another aspect of King Crimson shining through. They are unbelievable when it comes to changes in direction and styles. 10/10

I'm tempted to give it 5 stars to counter the negative reviews. But I will stick to my 4-star rating.

7/10 Though not the best album in the King Crimson catalog, it certainly isn't the worst. This album is indeed underrated. The first few songs flow together well, though if not super memorable. Next we'e got 'Ladies of the Road' which... is a groupie song, with some questionable lyric choices. The Prelude is very nice, and the title track is also very well done. Underrated King Crimson album, definitely worth checking out if you like Crimson's softer side. Overall pretty good, I re -listened to it recently, it's slightly better than I remember, 'Islands' is my favorite track.

Overall, it's a prettier Crimson album, still worth checking out if you enojoyed their other works, I've grown to appreciate it recently, Controversial take, but I'd put it above 'Starless and Bible Black' not by much, true, and this album is brought down a bit by some tracks, but I like it more.

Review #117!

'Islands', after listening to it excessively over seven days, has become my new favorite King Crimson album. It's not like any other King Crimson studio output, with generally lighter and softer songs and moods as opposed to borderline gothic, heavy albums like 'In The Court of the Crimson King' and 'Starless and Bible Black'. Every track is powerful in its own way, but not how you'd expect. Where you think crescendos should be are absent, and that can piss off many King Crimson fans. But not me. 'Formentera Lady' opens with its instantly recognizable bowed double-bass. More instruments are added in to create a minimalist symphony. Then vocals arrive and the ball gets rolling. The chorus is one of my favorites from King Crimson ever. At this point in the song, flute, piano, and percussion are never given a second of rest left to play in any spaces without vocals. At the six minute mark, when vocals have left the stage, the band is left to freak out in the form of jazzy improvisation. This is the kind of stuff you get throughout the album (partly why I love it so much). The song ends making you want more, but the transition from this to 'Sailor's Tale' is good enough. Now, 'Sailor's Tale' is probably the closest 'Islands' ever got to "normal" King Crimson. Robert Fripp, Mel Collins and Ian Wallace all get to show off their amazing talents in this amazingly groovy instrumental. It has everything you need in a King Crimson song. 'The Letters', a story song about an unfaithful husband and his affair that ended with an unprecedented pregnancy. The letter that his mistress sent the wife is the basis for the conflict. The music, while slow, has subtle undertones of aggression. Boz's vocals display this beautifully. His singing is some of the best in this album apart from the title track. Definitely one of the strongest songs on the album. 'Ladies of the Road', with its abstract groove and suggestive lyrics, is probably the most fun song on this album. Great sax, great chorus, great everything. Insane. It sets you up for what's to come and is a refresher for what already happened. 'Prelude - Song of the Gulls' is an instrumental that does a damn good job of carrying you to the title track. Strings and woodwinds and brass and other instruments play perfectly in a mini symphony that will never be replicated. Four minutes of pure bliss. 'Islands', the title track, always gave me a kind of happiness when I listened to it that only 'Close to the Edge' replicated. Boz's opening vocals are moving and woeful, conjuring too many emotions to count. Flute and piano comfortably play behind him, never overplaying nor skipping a beat. The melody changes many times, each time carrying more and more weight until the music lifts you away. Once the vocals are gone the sax steps up and slowly blows you away. Backing instruments build until the end. But wait, there's more. After a minute of silence the band reappears, muttering and fumbling with their instruments. They play discordantly and the album ends with a voice: "One two two one two three". Maybe a weak ending, but it barely does any harm to the quality of this absolute masterpiece. One of those albums worth an eleven out of ten. Prog on.

The compulsive need of Robert Fripp and his band to compose works that are dissonant with the prevailing conventional structures, but at the same time use them to create just such a contrast, finds a new chapter with "Island", the fourth album by the unclassifiable King Crimson. Elements of jazz, classical music and rock are intermingled with the mission of creating an instrumental chaos that challenges the senses and forces the listener to the complicated task of entering into them and interpreting their messages.

From the indolent opener "Formentera Lady", through the lingering instrumental "Sailor's Tale" and the intriguing "The Letters", to the latter-day beatlenian "Ladies of the Road", "Island" features the wandering, dislocated sax of Mel Collins, and the distorted, screeching guitars of Fripp, as common elements that persist in disrupting the melodies of each piece, under the mantle that the jazzy, incisive drumming of newcomer Ian Wallace bestows upon them.

And as with King Crimson, the only thing to expect is the unexpected, the last section of the work offers two pieces of considerable value: the orchestral "Prelude: Song of the Gulls" and Robin Miller's oboe, and above all "Island", homonymous with the album's title, dominated by a restful and melancholic melody that the also recently arrived singer and forced bassist Boz Burrell unravels with great sensitivity, accompanied by Keith Tippet's delicate piano, Mark Charig's cornet, and Fripp's ever-present mellotron. The best track on the album.

After the recording of "Island" and following the constant dynamic of King Crimson, both Burrel and Wallace left the band with only one album completed, and frequent guest Tippet would no longer be called upon.

3.5 stars

The conclusion of the Lizard recording sessions came with more (expected) bandmember turnover. As mentioned above, vocalist/bassist Gordon Haskell quit the band. He drew his primary influences from soul and Motown, so it's clear why he'd be a poor creative fit for King Crimson. Drummer Andy McCulloch would leave the band not long after Haskell. Haskell was replaced by Boz Burrell (one of the future founding members of Bad Company), and McCulloch's replacement was Ian Wallace. As is par for the course so far, this lineup would persist for just one album: 1971's Islands.

This section of the Deep Dive is probably going to be my hottest take. I don't like Islands. It is a sleepy, boring, aimless record that does little and says less. This was the first time in probably seven or more years I'd listened to the album, and I'd forgotten how many heavy moments there are here, since the string-heavy bookends always left the biggest (negative) impressions on me. But even when Fripp takes the lead, his playing is often overly-busy and scattershot. 

I genuinely do not understand the love this album gets. Normally, if a band has a well-received album I'm not a fan of, I can at least get why. This is an exception to that. Yes's Fragile is inconsistent and half-filler, but the highs are so high, I can see why people would put it so far up in their respective lists. I'm relatively critical of Wish You Were Here, but I understand why it resonates with people. Even The Wall and Hand.Cannot. Erase.?two records I didn't quite pan but gave overall-lackluster reviews to?have elements that make me understand why people like them so much. To me, Islands has no such redeeming qualities.

The album starts with the ten-minute "Formentera Lady". Jazz, classical, and chamber music influences are prominent throughout the whole record, and this song is no exception. Bowed double bass, piano, and flute swirl for a while before the vocals begin. Burrell's voice is very nice here, and these opening moments have some promise; it reminds me a lot of Atomic Rooster's gentler moments. However, it becomes clear that this song is content to just sort of drift along, alternating between subdued verses and the slightly-peppier chorus. Much of the final three minutes is consumed by a noodly sax solo and some warbling, wordless vocals. I can envision what the band was going for, but this simply isn't a success.

"Sailor's Tale" is my favorite song on the album. Opening with a high-energy, jazzy rhythm, guitar and sax share the lead. Some of the soloing can feel a bit purposeless, but at least it's relatively entertaining. When things slow down, Fripp throws some strange, clattering guitar chords over the top of lush Mellotron, and it works pretty well. The feeling of the song becomes urgent as the pace picks back up, and I especially like the drumming in this closing section. The song does end on a too-long drone, but I'll take what enjoyment I can get from Islands.

"The Letters" isn't without its redeeming qualities, either. The saxophones here have some great punch and power to them, and they contrast nicely against the quiet, calm verse. Moving deeper into the song, though, the instrumental section turns into a bunch of noisy nonsense. Burrell's vocals in the last minute are impassioned, and he's capable of being both delicate and strong.

Side two opens with "Ladies of the Road". Sinfield's lyrics aren't great here, and Burrell's delivery doesn't help them. This is a song about groupies, and it's trying to be dirty and raunchy, but it comes off as stilted and awkward. There are some blues flavors here, but Fripp clearly can't quite commit to it, constantly tossing in jazzy and avant-garde licks that don't really fit. During quiet moments, I do like the more complex vocal arrangements. The composition of this song does give a hint of where Fripp would take King Crimson in the near future: it is relatively stark, austere, and heavy.

"Prelude: Song of the Gulls" is an alright little instrumental. It contains no rock instrumentation, with a small string arrangement and Collins's flute being the only elements here. It doesn't make much of an impression, and it doesn't really add much.

It doesn't even serve as a natural introduction to the ten-minute title track. Piano, vocals, and bass flute start this song off gently, but it doesn't feel like an extension of "Prelude". In returning to Islands after so long, I found more to like in the preceding songs than I recalled (especially songs 2-4), but the unending, uninteresting, and aimless title track incinerates any goodwill I may have been fostering toward this record. It just keeps running in circles, adding nothing new. In its second half, trumpet and percussion enter, and it's obvious that a lot of post-rock bands that I'm not too fond of took inspiration from this song. 

After a minute of silence there's a hidden track, but it's just studio chatter and the string arrangement tuning up. I don't know why they included this.

Certain CD reissues have included the previously-unreleased bonus track "A Peacemaking Stint Unrolls", and it's more interesting than most of the record. The guitar is wiry and jittery, and Fripp's nimble riffs sound like a precursor to math rock. Bits of riffs that would be reused in future songs can be heard here, so this is a unique artifact of the band's songwriting process.

Review originally posted here: theeliteextremophile.com/2024/04/15/deep-dive-king-crimson/

An underrated album. Just like In the wake of Poseidon. People argue about this album for it's thin bass and Not grandiose instrumental arrangement. But i'll say it's probably another King Crimson masterpiece. Just look at the amazing cover and it's astonishing insert, you'll see what is this album all about. Though boz's bass performance was not quite satisfactory, his vocal was amazing. not to say the drums, violin and guitar. For the tracks, the album comes as a 6-track album with a pretty comfortable rhythm. Which makes it easy to chew. The mood just fluently comes in, and slowly burns, then silently went away. So let's give it a 4. Not as bizarre as Lizard but worth the rate.